


The Montauk Summer

by orphan_account



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan
Genre: F/M, M/M, Mystery, Revenge, Romance, Secrets, Sex, Sexual Violence, careers, family life
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-02-01
Updated: 2017-03-07
Packaged: 2018-09-21 10:15:07
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 25,920
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9543305
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Nico and Will are grown up and living in New York, struggling with the joys and fatigue of raising young kids.  They're happily anticipating spending a month at the Jackson's beach cottage at Montauk.  Everything seems so normal, but all is not as it seems.  One night Nico steps in to help Percy’s little sister, and secrets begin to be revealed.





	1. The Middle of The Night and All That Entails

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first attempt at writing Nico and Will as adults, something I really never thought I'd do. But this came to me all of a sudden, and I gave it a go.
> 
> This work will be several chapters, I think. 
> 
> People who've read my other stuff know I've referenced Raymond Chandler before, as Nico's favourite author. And I might just be modeling Nico as an adult on Chandler's character, Phillip Marlowe....
> 
> Speaking of which, I did absolutely no research into the NYPD and everything in here about them is completely out of my head, and possibly Law and Order. I don't really know New York. I'm not American. And also, I have Nico on parental leave from work for 1 year, which is what we get in Canada. Pretty sure that's not the norm in the USA.
> 
> Rated Mature for language and mild (if that's the right word, and I'm not sure it is...) sexual assault.
> 
> Also, I named Percy Jackson's sister. I hate making up characters that I expect will be revealed in the upcoming books, but it had to be done. Her name's Laura, in my head, and she's feisty and petite, with Percy’s green eyes.
> 
> Let me know what you think.

“That’s you…” Nico didn’t bother to open his eyes, and moved his mouth the bare minimum, so it came out more like, “ thsouophmgh” to which Wiļl understandably didn’t respond. When the noise continued, Nico decided brute force was necessary and shifted his leg over to nudge Will’s. This elicited a grunt but no move toward the insistent phone. With a groan Nico roused himself enough to crawl directly across Will’s back and fumble for the phone on the far bedside table. Bringing it close to his barely open eyes Nico read the message and then dropped the phone with another groan before flopping down beside Will. He snuggled in close and tried to form actual words, 

“Will… Will…”

No response. They had both just gotten to sleep, and sleep was a rare commodity these days. Nico tried again, adding an accompanying shoulder shake, “Will… It’s the hospital...”

This got a muffled, “Are you fucking kidding me?” from the depths of Will’s pillow. 

“Didn’t you just get home?” Nico groaned for the third time. It was Will’s turn to fumble for his phone and stare at it disbelievingly. “Didn’t I just get home?” he mumbled, not clueing in to the echo. “What time is it?” he blathered on to himself. “Gods! 12:33!? We’ve been asleep for maybe half an hour?”

“No wonder we feel so well rested,” Nico said dryly. “You’d better call them,” Nico gestured to the phone in Will’s hand. “Do you think you’ll have to go in again?” 

Nico tried not to sound bitter, but fatigue prevented any effective effort. Will already had the phone to his ear, and shrugged, about to say, “Probably…” but then switched his attention to the voice on the other end of the line. From what Nico could hear of the conversation it sounded bad. It was never good if they paged Will in the middle of the night – kids with terrible burns, kids with disfiguring trauma.

Nico watched him from his pillow as Will put down the phone and started to get dressed. “They know you just finished a 16 hour shift, right?” Will pulled on his t-shirt and turned to look at his unamused husband. 

“I have to go, Nico. You know I do. …You think I don’t want to just crawl back into bed with you?” He said it as if they had just been interrupted in the midst of torrid lovemaking. 

Nico remembered torrid lovemaking… lovely dirty fucking. Lovely precious sleep was the current reigning pleasure in this house – almost equally orgasmic when it actually happened, almost equally frustrating when it didn’t. Will did kneel back on the bed and crawl over to Nico, dropping his hands on either side of Nico’s face and lowering for a goodbye kiss. Nico, with nebulous thoughts of lovely dirty fucking, slid his hand into Will’s hair to hold their mouths together longer. Will gave a little moan as he ended the kiss reluctantly. “Don’t…” Will murmured against Nico’s lips, “It’s bad enough to be missing the sleep, let alone-”

They both turned their heads suddenly at the little voice calling out tremulously from the bedroom doorway, 

“Dads?” 

Three year old Lee stood there, pajama-clad, chestnut curls skew-whiff. 

“What are you doing awake, piccolo? It’s not morning yet.” Nico’s gentle voice was completely at odds with his nonplussed expression. Will was pushing himself up off the bed, sliding his phone into his back pocket, glancing at the small boy and looking anxious to get going. He was starting to shift into healer mode, Nico knew the signs – burst of adrenaline, giddy focus; Will-as-lover, Will-as-father momentarily pushed completely aside.

“I’m sick, Papa,” the little boy explained as he padded closer to their bed. “I need Daddy.” Nico gave Will a sidelong glance and Will sighed as he helped Lee climb up onto their bed. This was a constant tension, Will rushing off to help other children when his own needed him, too. Will let exasperation flash over his face in response, “Nico, he’s not sick.” The exasperation was in his voice too, just barely. Nico raised his eyebrows with a shrug. Will turned to Lee.

“Where are you sick?” Will gave their son a professional, although skeptical, once-over.

Lee’s furrowed brow was so Nico that Will couldn’t help but smile. “I just woke up and it was all dark and I heard a noise and I was sick and I need you, Daddy.” 

Will gathered his son into a hug. “That’s not sick, that’s scared. Different thing.”

“No, I’m SICK and need YOU,” Lee insisted into Will’s neck. He held on as tight as he could.

Will shot Nico a pleading look over the curly head. With a sigh, Nico reached to peel Lee off his Daddy, murmuring, “Daddy has to go to work, caramellino. Come cuddle with Papa.” Lee let himself be coaxed into his Papa’s arms and Will gave Nico a grateful peck on the cheek. “Back to sleep, both my men,” Will ordered. Lee wriggled under the duvet immediately, thrilled at being allowed to stay in his normally forbidden parents’ bed, planting his face against Nico’s chest. Quietly and enviously, Will closed the bedroom door.

A split second later, the unmistakable screams of a teething baby tore into the night. The bedroom door opened once again and Nico lifted his almost-asleep head to see his beloved backlit by the hall light, laden with car keys, leather bag, and chubby wailing girl child. 

“I’m so sorry,” Will looked truly sympathetic as he handed over their miserable daughter. Lee, unfazed by the crying but now thoroughly awake, threw off the blanket, and started jumping on the bed. “Oh, Nora,” he cooed, in perfect imitation of his patient Papa, “tranquillo, Fragolina (little strawberry)….. oh, topolino (little mouse, masc.)….” Jump. Jump. Jump. “Topolina,” Nico corrected reflexively. “Oh, topolina (jump), topolina (jump), topolina! (jump),” Lee sing-songed. Lee’s jumps were making Nora bounce in Nico’s arms but she screamed on, refusing to be distracted from her sore mouth. 

Will grimaced at Nico’s desperate face, “I love you,” he mouthed. “Take me with you!” Nico mouthed back as Will hurried to go. 

Nico stared down at his inconsolable daughter in a kind of shock. Ten minutes ago all had been dark and silent! He hauled himself out of bed. A bottle and Tylenol and then sleep. Sleep! 

He heard the car start through the open window. “Bye, Will,” he thought, “fuck you, my love…” Out loud he snapped, “Lee! Enough!” The jumps stopped abruptly. His Papa was rarely harsh with him and the tears welled. Nico’s expression softened. “Let’s get Nora a bottle, shall we? And you can have a spoon of Nutella.” Lee loved that idea and led the way downstairs. 

Midnight feast in the kitchen of the Solace- di Angelo household: dose of acetaminophen, a bottle, Nutella spoon, glass of milk, and a glass of Scotch. Everyone was much happier 20 minutes after Will left for the hospital. Then Nico’s phone rang.

“Uncle Nico, you have to come get me! Trevor is such an asshole!”

“Laura? Are you okay?” Will and Nico had developed a close relationship with Percy Jackson’s little sister. They had known her since they were 15, and they’d lived in the same city for the past 5 years. With Percy in California most of the time, Nico and Will were like stand-in brothers. Nico knew Sally and Paul were currently in Europe touring Sally’s most recent novel, and tonight was some end of school year party; Laura had posted something earlier about exams being done and time to celebrate, Nico hadn’t really paid attention. But he could hear that she was crying now.

“I’m okay. He is just SUCH A DICK!” Laura sounded a bit drunk. “You need to come pick me up, oh my god, he is such an asshole!”

Nico squinted at the clock on the microwave oven. 1:00 AM. “Laura, it’s one AM. Will’s at work. The babies are awake. And I can’t come and get you right now just because Trevor, whom we always knew was a fucking loser, has finally shown his true colours.”

He could hear Laura sobbing, imagined trails of mascara. He sighed for about the 80th time tonight. “Just get a cab here, Laura. You can use my credit card.”

“Thanks Uncle Nic--” She hung up, cutting herself off. Nico tossed the phone onto the counter. “Bed!” he announced to his little ones. He wanted them down before Laura arrived , adolescent drama exploding everywhere. Nora was well-anesthetized and asleep on his shoulder. As he laid her in her crib, she didn’t rouse at all. Lee, however, got the full luxury bedtime package including: parents’ bed, several stories, 2 glasses of water and 1 death threat. Nico had just pulled the down comforter to the finally sleeping child’s chin when he heard the cab pull up.

By the time Nico left the bedroom he could hear banging on the door. Why doesn’t she just use her key? Nico thought irritably. He opened the door, “You forgot your k-” He stopped short. Laura wasn’t alone, and she wasn’t ok, though she looked slightly better than her best friend, Jake. Jake had the determined flush of someone trying really hard not to cry, but recent tears had still caused his eyeliner to smear making the obviously punched eye as black as it would be tomorrow. He also sported a split-lip/bloody-nose combo. Nico could picture the one-two combination: BAM to the eye, then BAM to the nasal septum while you’re head was thrown back; that one hurt like hell and always got your lip, too. Laura had a small gash along her left cheekbone, similar makeup mess, and the same mutinous expression that Nico had seen on Percy’s face he didn’t know how many times. Jake was clearly barely holding himself together, taking deep breaths, and Nico tried to appreciate that, for most people, getting punched in the face was out of the ordinary, traumatic. 

 

“What the fuck happened?” Nico hauled the teenagers inside and closed the door behind them, and then steered them into the kitchen where they stood close to each other leaning against the counter. Nico was familiar enough with fight wounds to know these kids weren’t seriously hurt, though he reached his fingers to see if Jake’s nose was broken, then tilted the boy’s chin to examine the lip. Nothing some ice and a washcloth couldn’t take care of. Nico didn’t notice a blush creeping from the neckline of Jake’s elegant floral blouse, but Jake could feel his heart pounding at the touch; he’d met Laura’s ‘uncle’ a couple times before and had developed a bit of a crush. It was all almost a bit much at the moment – boxer shorts revealing those long, runner’s legs, the crumpled t-shirt, like he’d just rolled out of bed, his fingertips briefly touching his face...

But Laura was talking, and Nico paced while the story came out. A party at some senior’s house, a friend of Trevor’s. Laura spared no details: Trevor, drunk and belligerent, refusing no for an answer as he pushed Laura to her knees between his legs and held her face to his open jeans. Laura’s voice was amazingly steady but the tears squeezed through as she described how he had one hand at the back of her neck and one hand on the top of her head, pulling her hair hard, and she couldn’t get away. Nico was nodding, feeling the fury building. Laura was built like a gymnast – about 100 lbs soaking wet. Trevor had a least 80lbs on her. Jake had happened upon them and had tried to intervene, trying to pull Laura away. He’d screamed, “Let her go!” and Trevor did, abruptly, and with the sudden release Laura had been flung back smacking her face into the corner of the coffee table. Trevor, sprawled on the couch still, had put his hand where Laura’s face had been and leered at Jake as he bent to help his friend, “Oh, you want to take her place, Jacqueline?” Jake had been bravely disdainful, “You wish!” That’s when Trevor had jumped up and punched him. Somehow he had stayed upright and he and Laura just turned and ran while Trevor was doing up his pants. They’d called Nico and the cab from a couple blocks away.

Nico was clenching and unclenching his fists. “Laura, you said you were ok! I was thinking you caught your boyfriend kissing another girl or something, not that you were assaulted!” Nico’s concern came out as exasperation. Jake put his arm around Laura protectively, and Nico put his palms up in a placating gesture. “I’m not blaming you guys at all. But, someone’s got to do something about this….”

Laura burst out, “I’m not calling the cops! No way!” Nico didn’t appear to have heard her as he hurried into a room off the kitchen.

Laura and Jake had just enough time to gape at each other before Nico reappeared with a heaping laundry basket. They watched open mouthed as he dumped the entire contents on the kitchen table before rifling through, flinging aside minute socks and tiny t-shirts before finding what he was looking for. 

“The babies are asleep,” Nico explained hurriedly, pulling on the jeans in the middle of the kitchen. “I’m sure they’ll stay asleep; I won’t be long.” Jake found his tongue moistening his bottom lip involuntarily as his eyes followed Nico’s hand tucking his boxers into the jeans and zipping up. Nico was at the door sliding his bare feet into a pair of untied converse sneakers before Laura found her voice again, “Uncle Nico, what are you doing? Where are you going?”

He turned to face them and the look he gave them snapped their heads back like they’d been shocked – dark eyes glinting with tangible and terrible voltaic power. 

“I’m going to teach this Trevor a lesson he won’t forget.” Nico’s lazy smile was almost worse than his eyes – he was completely in control, like he’d done this before, like he’d done this a million times before. He’d turned away and was through the door and down the steps before the teens regrouped enough to sprint to the doorway and peer out. Nico was jogging down the middle of the deserted street, and then was gone. 

Jake found his voice at last. “Did he just disappear?!” Jake felt like he was hallucinating. He looked from Laura to the street and back to Laura. She was still staring into the shadows made by the streetlights, and he noted she didn’t seem to be on the verge of shocked panic. “What the fuck, Laura? Who is that guy?” Laura just turned her stare to her best friend’s normally pretty face, makeup and blood smeary, bruised, and now crazy-eyed. Incongruously, Jake’s hair still spilled gorgeously over his forehead to one side, his diamond earrings sparkled. Laura knew she must look equally rough and ridiculous. As crazy as this night was turning out to be, though, she just couldn’t tell him the truth. 

Jake’s expression said, “Well??”, impatiently. Laura pulled him back into the house with a deep sigh. “You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.”

“You mean…., There’s actually something to tell?” Jake tried to scan down the street again around Laura closing the door. “I mean, there’s obviously something to tell. I mean, you’d think it would be enough that your not-really-uncle is fucking sexy as hell and that I got to see him get dressed, like, right in front of me. I’d be content with that. And maybe, maybe it’s just that he’s Italian, you know? All hot blooded and passionate, and he’s going to beat up your asshole boyfriend-”

“Ex boyfriend,” Laura interjected. She was letting him babble while she moved to the freezer to get some ice packs for their bruises, to buy herself time to think.

Jake nodded, continued, “ But, Laura, he doesn’t even know where Trevor the dick is! And that look! That was fucking scary! This whole thing is fucking scary! And he did just disappear, right? Right? Oh my god, I’m losing my mind. It’s the only explanation-” The cold pack Laura pressed to his swollen lip and nose put an abrupt end to the rambling speculation.

“Shhhhhhh,” she whispered, green eyes holding his until he absorbed some of her calm and lifted his hand to hold the compress himself. Laura lifted one to her cheek as well. “Just, shhhhh … I don’t know-” In classic form, Nora chose that moment to let the household know how much she hated that emerging tooth. Jake was grateful. Screaming baby at two in the morning? No problem. Nice, normal, everyday-life babysitting. He could do this. Laura led the way to the stairs.

Nico reappeared about a block from the party house. He could hear the music still blasting and he had an inpromptu adult moment crankily wondering why no one had yet called the police to shut this nonsense down. He crouched down on the sidewalk and hovered his right hand just over the grass of the nearest front yard, mentally seeking through the layers of the earth and deep into his father’s territory until, finding what he was looking for, issued an ancient Greek one-word command: “Submit!”

Nico raised himself to his feet as the earth seemed to come to a rolling boil before him. A grotesque humanoid creature rose from the tumultuous soil and stood before him, immediately taking the form of a handsome blonde young man – idealized Will, or the god Apollo himself. This shape-shifter was one of the strange fates of the underworld – a gift to women who had died in service as courtesans, whose life had been devoted to the whims of their masters’ pleasures. Now they had the ability to effortlessly become whatever form anyone desired most, to seduce, and to control their victims at their most vulnerable, to hurt, even kill. Nasty, dangerous creatures, but useful in these situations and being of the underworld, completely under Nico’s control. 

Nico shook his head, and continued to speak in the ancient tongue he knew intuitively, “Not for me, my lovely sex-hungry demon servant. I have a present for you. A boy who truly deserves your talented ministrations.” The gorgeous blond facing him gave a growl of anticipation. “Not to kill, my sweet, but make him very, very afraid…’ Nico beckoned the creature to follow as he stepped into the shadows again.

A dark party living room provided plenty of shadowy options for re-entry , and none of the drunk, dancing, shouting, raucous teens noticed the sudden appearance of a guy twice their age with a baby barf stained t-shirt, nor his young blonde companion. Nico caught sight of Trevor on the far side of the room standing in a circle of his goon friends. Nico pointed him out to the shape-shifter who started to move purposefully in that direction. The closer the creature got to her prey, the features slid and shimmered finally settling on female, petite and brunette just as she broke through the jock-y circle. Nestling against his neck, she whispered into his ear. Trevor’s eyes popped and he allowed himself to be led away by the hand, to the whoops and jeers of his friends. Nico followed at a safe distance, through the hallways, towards an open bathroom door. “Classy,” Nico thought to himself, and he grabbed an unopened abandoned beer bottle from the hall table, popping the cap and tipping it to his mouth as he leaned against the closed door. He could feel the weight of Trevor’s body as it was pushed against the door behind him, and from the noises that followed, could picture exactly what was going on, though he tried not to, distracting himself by staring at the portrait of a nice looking couple on the wall opposite. Did they have any idea what was happening in their house at this moment? He pictured them in The Hamptons for the weekend. A couple girls staggered by, eyeing him with drunken interest, “Look, a real man,” one slurred. “I’m gay,” Nico said shortly and took another pull of his beer. “Too bad,” the one girl looked him up and down bleary eyed. “So?” Her friend said at the same time. “Fuck off,” Nico commanded, smiling indifferently. They laughed and staggered on down the hallway. 

The sounds in the bathroom had changed from soft moans of pleasure to gasps of disbelief and then cries of horror and pain, muffled thumps of struggle against the door. Nico moved away just as Trevor did manage to open the door. He took in the scene: the creature, having resumed her original monstrous appearance sat on the edge of the bathtub licking blood from her lips in a very self-satisfied way. Trevor had slid to the ground staring at his bloody member in shock. “hmmmmmm,” Nico considered as he observed, “a bite. Perfect.” Trevor stared at him in the doorway uncomprehendingly. “Looks like you found someone to suck your dick tonight after all. Everything you hoped for?” Trevor whimpered, continued to stare. Nico almost felt sorry for the pathetic jerk. Almost. Not quite. 

“Get up,” he ordered quietly, his eyes blazing, and he knew Trevor would do it. And, pale, shaking, he did, preferring to face anything rather than even glance back at the creature which had turned into some kind of zombie before drawing blood just as he was about to come. “That,” Nico gestured to the monster and to Trevor’s bloody crotch, “was from Laura.” Comprehension flashed through the shock on Trevor’s face. “And this is from Jake.” It felt amazing, his fist connecting with Trevor’s eye and then nose, the crackling of bone and the splatter of the blood. Trevor hit the ground. Nico beckoned to the creature, stepped back into the shadowy hall, and disappeared, his work done.

Having dispelled his revenge-assistant back to the underworld, Nico took a minute before going back into his house, sitting on the front steps and lifting his phone to his ear.

“NYPD precinct 23” a man’s voice answered.

“Bob, it’s Nico.”

“di Angelo! How the hell are you?”

“Good, good… Hey, Bob, I have to call in a 3.28”

Bob chuckled, “the neighbours keeping your babies awake, boss?

“Ah, not really… 243 Stone Ave. Grad party or something. Time to shut it down.”

“Alright, boss, We’ll send some folks over there with your compliments, okay?”

“And, hey, Bob, just say there’s some hulking football-type there complaining some asshole answering my vague or possibly identical description beat him up, well, he’s got an active imagination. And maybe he forgot how he just slipped in the bathroom.”

There was a pause. “You back on the job, di Angelo?”

“Six months to go, Bob. Nora just turned six months, working on her first tooth.”

Silence again for a moment, “I guess this football-type did something real bad?”

“Yep. And he won’t do it again.”

“Dare I ask how you know any of what happened, boss?”

“I’ll just say Percy Jackson’s little sister, and her best friend, Jake Todd, are, at this moment, mopping up wounds in my kitchen. The wounds we can see, that is….”

“Jackson’s sist…” Bob repeated with a hiss of disbelief and pity. “Does he know?”

“He won’t hear it from you, Bob.”

“No, sir, he will not. We’ll get right on this 3.28, Nico. You take care of those kids.” He hung up. 

Nico lowered the phone and stared at it. The adrenaline was wearing off and he stood to go in.

He stepped through the doorway to see Laura and Jake tiptoeing down the stairs. They stopped short at the sight of the blood splattered t-shirt. “Don’t ask,” he warned. “Everyone to bed. You guys have the couch. We’ll talk in morning, hopefully long after the sun rises.” He didn’t wait for a reply moving past them on the stairs, wanting hot shower and bed. Sleep!


	2. Original Hazel Zhang!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> While Will sleeps off the unexpected night shift, Nico makes last minute preparations for the trip to Montauk, including hiring two nannies. Jake makes a discovery that has his curiosity, and his cheeks, burning.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took so long. I wrote it, erased it. Re-wrote it, erased that. 
> 
> Mostly a set-up chapter, but it's got some good stuff.
> 
> Enjoy!

Will was asleep almost before his head hit the pillow after he pulled on pajama pants and crawled under the covers beside the little lump of Lee occupying the middle of the bed; Nico was facedown and unmoving on the other side. On his way to the stairs Will hadn’t glanced into the living room where two beat up teenagers curled together protectively, nor into the laundry room where a bloody t-shirt had been tossed onto the floor. If he had, his slumber might just not have been so immediate and sound. It’s a good thing he hadn’t: sound sleep ensured, a mere couple hours later, the cries of his baby daughter were insufficient to lull him from dreamland.

In the kitchen, Nico babbled Italian nonsense to little Nora who sat in her highchair happily gumming a frozen strawberry to soothe her sore mouth. Nico had felt with his finger. The tooth was almost through. The worst was pretty much over. “Si, bambina, cara, soon you will not be such a monster. You have been a right little shit,” he muttered affectionately as he poured strong coffee into a cup of warmed milk and honey. 

“Morning,” Jake announced his presence from the doorway where he hovered as if he might be intruding, or perhaps he simply felt self-conscious wearing a plaid shirt pilfered hours ago from the laundry mess on the kitchen table. Nico turned, not saying anything but holding out the cup of coffee. Jake stepped forward to take the cup and then stood awkwardly in the middle of the kitchen, taking a sip while Nico prepared a second cup. “You can sit down, Jake,” Nico told him. Jake pulled up a chair beside Nora reaching over to massage her cornsilk covered scalp with his fingertips to which she gave a little shiver of pleasure before giving him a still-toothless, strawberry-pulpy grin. Nico smiled as he sipped his coffee. “She loves you,” he observed, as he pulled up a chair opposite. Jake felt himself blush and his lips pull into a pleased smile, and then twist into a wince. His entire face hurt. Smiling did not help.

“That’ll feel worse before it feels better,” Nico advised, “and then it’ll look worse than it feels for awhile.” Jake tried to look brave.

“I guess you’ve been punched in the face loads of times.”

Nico gave him a sharp look.

“…as a cop,” Jake was quick to add, “police officer….” he corrected. Memories of Nico disappearing from the middle of the street, Nico’s terrible dark eyes, Jake wasn’t sure how far he dared to press.

Nico was nodding, maybe trying not to smile, “Yeah, I’ve been in a fight or two. Not so many sucker punches to the face in Homicide, though. I’m one of the guys in a suit. More thinking than fighting.” At least where the mortals are concerned, he thought to himself, not willing to go there with Percy Jackson’s sister’s friend. He was fairly sure Jake was innocently unaware of Laura’s connection to things godly, magical and otherwise mortal-mind-blowing. 

“But, you did something last night, to Trevor…” Jake went on, at the same time picturing Nico in a suit and blushing again. Nico just nodded, silent, taking another sip of coffee. Jake realized Laura’s ‘uncle’ was not about to disclose secret-identity details, nor, apparently, any, details, to him, so he decided to admit the other thing that had been bothering him.

“I should’ve done that. I should’ve punched him back…” Oh god, he felt his eyes tear up.

Nico looked unconvinced but his tone was kind. “Jake, you took a solid beating to your face and you didn’t even fall down. You got Laura out of there. That was really strong and brave. That was more than many people would have done.” He watched Jake quickly wipe away the two tears. “Hey, the last thing Trevor expected, I imagine, was challenge from the boy in the silk LIMA Feu blouse. Though, let’s acknowledge the bravery in that, as well…. Not just any guy can pull off floral silk with 80s Levis and vintage brogues.” Jake decided the admiration on Nico’s face was genuine. He knew LIMA Feu, after all. It was, actually. Nico appreciated the boy’s confidence in wearing whatever he wanted to, paying no attention to gendered rules and trends. Serendipitously, Nico’s sister had been going on and on about LIMA Feu when they spoke just last week, so he had recognized the label Jake was wearing least night. Jake seemed impressed at his fashion knowledge (Nico hoped they wouldn’t actually have to talk about it) and was visibly more at ease. “Thanks,” Jake said simply. They both drank their coffee in silence.

Nico got up suddenly and started bustling around the kitchen, loading the table with bread, cheese, jam, a jug of orange juice, and couple plates, knives, glasses. A phone vibrated and sounded from the counter top. Grabbing it and taking in the number, Nico made to leave the room to answer the call. He turned to Jake, “Eat!” he commanded, as he went into the hall.

“Bob,” Nico spoke quietly into the phone. He stepped outside into the morning sunshine and leaned against the porch railing.

“Nico. How are those kids?”

“Jake’s okay. I haven’t talked to Laura this morning.”

“We shut the party down, boss, and that football-type was there, like you said. He didn’t complain, but the uniforms noticed. You really did a number on him! Broken nose, black eye….”

“Mm hmm,” Nico sounded almost bored.

“He didn’t want to talk, but the bloody crotch made it into the report, Nico. I noticed that. So I took care of it, Nico. A little shift of the mist, you know. I figured that was called for. The kid didn’t want to talk anyway. Whatever you sic’d on him will have the desired effect, I think, Nico. At least, I’m pretty sure you’re only indirectly responsible for-”

“Mm hmm,” Nico interrupted. It was helpful to have another demigod on the force, especially an old guy on the desk with access to everybody’s business, but that didn’t mean he wanted to talk it all over a whole hell of a lot. Bob was a son of Hecate who’d managed of survive without Camp Half Blood, from the days before Hecate was recognized there. He’d honed his godly skills on the streets, and spent his career unapologetically making use of all mortal and godly powers he had at his disposal to put bad guys away. He’d kept his ear to the ground and was knowledgeable of the demigod wars and quests over the years, surreptitiously helping out from the ‘mortal’ side whenever he could. He knew who Nico was by reputation, and recognized him the moment he first saw him five years ago. Over drinks at O’Malley’s one night, Bob told Nico his life story, and promised to have Nico’s back. Doctored reports were unavoidable when trying to cover up monstrous involvement in a case, or when “Detective di Angelo forced a confession from the ghost of the deceased” wouldn’t fly in court, and sometimes people saw something and they needed to really believe they didn’t actually see what they thought they saw, but this was the first time Bob had covered for Nico for something personal and Nico wasn’t all that proud of it. Bob would take this to the grave, but Nico didn’t really want to talk it all out on his front porch in the late June morning sunlight. 

“Thanks, Bob. I owe you one,” Nico ended the conversation.

“Oh, okay, boss. Listen, don’t worry about this at all. Have a good vacation with those sweet babies of yours, ok? You see Percy, you say hello from me, too. And take care of his little sister too, poor thing.”

“Will do, okay, bye Bob.” He hung up. Vacation. Right. They were leaving for Montauk today. He’d spent the week packing. An idea started to form in Nico’s mind. He grinned as he entered the kitchen, the idea substantiating.

“Papa! This nice girl gave me some breakfast!” Lee enthusiastically called over to him from his booster seat perch at the table, a plate with bread and jam before him. Lee had obviously woken up and descended the stairs while Nico was outside.

“Boy,” Nico corrected. “Sorry,” he directed to Jake. Jake shrugged. “Understandable,” he said.

“Papa,” Lee began again, staring at Jake in awe, and continuing in Italian, “Can I have diamond earrings?”

“Si, Lee, I’ll just get a potato and a needle and I’ll be right back….” He turned to Jake again. “Lee likes your earrings.” 

Jake fingered his left earlobe. “I got these for my sixteenth birthday,” he admitted shyly.

“Very pretty,” Nico remarked, “Lee thinks so, too.” He reached to take Nora from Jake’s arms. “Thank you for all this,” he indicated the children with his chin and watched as Jake blushed and shrugged. Jake liked being here. He was an only child, but he was good with kids. He liked the messy noisy kitchen. He liked this man pouring him coffee and telling him to eat. He liked this man taking the baby from his arms.

“I noticed you have an original Bianca!” Jake changed the subject, and Nico nearly spit out his mouthful of coffee. Jake was pointing to the framed charcoal drawing on the wall. “Bianca of the Underworld is my favourite comic book series.” Jake explained, “I can't believe you have an original Hazel Zhang! It’s unsigned, but I’d bet my life it’s hers. I’d know her work anywhere. You know, LIMA Feu recently commissioned a fabric from her? It’s gorgeous, classic Hazel Zhang, with intertwining skulls and gems and fruits. Beautiful!” Jake gushed. “You must be a fan, or Will?”

Nico swallowed. “Yeah, I have pretty much everything she’s ever done,” Nico admitted, deciding that wasn’t giving too much away. Jake was impressed. “Even,” Nico lifted his t-shirt sleeve to reveal a tattoo. Jake rushed over to have a closer look at the anatomical drawing of a heart pierced by a gothic arrow with Solace etched into the shaft. Nico stretched out the same arm to show his inner forearm with the half pomegranate inked there, a trail of 7 pomegranate seeds trailing to his wrist. 

“Wow!” Jake studied them intently. “This is really early work, no? The realism and the fine lines…”

He found himself touching his finger to Nico’s skin without thinking, drawn to the jagged scars filling the space between the heart and the fruit, “How did you….” he wondered out loud. Nico pulled his arm away. “Long time ago. Long story,” he said simply. Jake couldn’t stop himself , blurting out, “last night you disappeared, didn’t you?” 

Out loud it sounded so absolutely ridiculous he blushed as purple as his bruises. But Nico didn’t laugh or even look confused. He did, however, ignore Jake’s comment completely, saying, “Have a look in the living room, bottom shelf of the bookcase. I honestly have everything Hazel …Zhang has ever done. Go. Explore.” He turned and occupied himself wiping Nora’s face, encouraging Lee to finish up his breakfast. Jake recognized what happened there. He’d kind of been dismissed, figuratively, and literally, and it did nothing to assuage his burning curiosity about this Nico di Angelo. Still, all the Hazel Zhangs, ever? This he had to see. 

In the living room, Laura was just waking up and he suppressed his comic book excitement for a moment to crawl into the sofa bed and kiss her forehead. “Is Uncle Nico up?” she asked, her voice and face carrying evidence of how she’d cried and cried on Jake’s shoulder only hours ago. Jake nodded, and he moved aside so she could get up. He watched her leave the room and listened for a moment to the muffled voices in the adjacent kitchen – the greetings of the kids, Laura’s voice, Nico’s. 

His eyes lit on the bookcase and he let himself scramble over like a kid approaching the tree on Christmas morning. Half registering the voices in the kitchen still, Jake rapturously pulled out volume after volume, finding his favorites and some things he’d never seen before. He had bared half the shelf when something caught his eye. Papers rammed behind the row of comic books as if hidden long ago and forgotten. Jake pulled it out and his eyes widened. Two notebooks filled with ink drawings. He scanned the covers: one had the title “The Quest/Gaea” and a flick through revealed tantalizing images of battles and monsters and a flying ship – unpublished Hazel Zhang! How did Nico get his hands on this? It would be worth a fortune! Heart pounding Jake turned his eyes to the other. The title was longer, and made him catch his breath: “Les Petite Morts (de l’Anneé de l’Amour)” – the …little deaths? …of the year of love? Jake’s French was two years of high school, but he was pretty sure he had it right. He turned to the first page, gasped, and then turned, and turned the pages, feeling his cheeks flush red. At the center of the book a folded page fell to the ground. Opening it, Jake instantly found his arousal complete, white noise in his ears, cock hard as anything. Shocked, he quickly folded the paper again, and breathed deeply to calm himself down. That’s when he noticed the words scrawled on the back, loopy old-fashioned cursive:  
“So, is it weird to make a porn-y drawing for your brother? Maybe. But I know you’re missing Will, so I pulled this together. Purely from imagination, mind! Not that I spend time imagining you guys… oh my gods! OK, I’m never thinking of this again, except for thinking that this will make you happy. Wink. Hazel.”

Brother? Jake’s mind was completely blown. He was also pretty certain that Nico had not sent him in here to find these. He’d obviously forgotten they were here. Brother? He didn’t dare open the loose page again, but replaced it carefully. He stacked the notebooks together, and then, before he could change his mind, slipped them into his backpack. He needed to look at these more closely, not here, not now. He quickly returned to the bookcase and neatly lined up the Bianca comics. When Laura came up behind him, a minute later, he was still wound so tight he nearly jumped out of his skin. (Thankfully, the erection had subsided.) 

“Are you okay?” she asked. He nodded a bit wildly. “You?” he responded, stupidly. She gave him a look, and he looked appropriately chagrined. She did seem better though, excited to tell him, “Uncle Nico wants to hire us for July, to help with the kids, you know, at Montauk. Isn’t it great? It’s perfect. We basically get to hang out on the beach. I don’t have to see The Asshole. You’ll come, won’t you?”

Jake considered it. This was perfect. For Laura, of course, and he loved those babies too, but a whole month to get to the bottom of this – Nico, Will, Hazel Zhang… He nodded. “I’m in!” 

Laura squealed and gave him a hug. “Okay! We leave today! We just have to go home, pack, and we’ll grab mom and dad’s car. We won’t all fit in Nico and Will’s.”

A few hours later (the laundry finally dealt with), Nico sat with Nora on his knee encouraging (nagging) everyone to finish all the leftovers in the fridge and to drink all the milk. Laura was smiling at Jake who apparently dressed to match his face, gray linen shorts and a mauve sleeveless button up. Lee was gleefully alternating bites of dill pickle with pesto noodles and chocolate brownie.

The chatter at the table was interrupted suddenly by Nora’s squeals. She had erupted into frantic wriggling and happy twitters, smiling and waving her hands, babbling, “da da da da da da!” Will had appeared at the kitchen doorway, sleepy eyed and bare chested, with his hair lazily tied in a messy bun, pajama pants low on his hips. All heads turned to look at him as he stopped short, before warily approaching the crowded table. Nico gazed at his gorgeous husband, thinking ahead to vacation alone-time. He grinned and became as effusive as their daughter, though more articulate. He spoke to Nora, but his eyes were on his husband,

“Yes! That’s your Daddy, Nora. Isn’t he a handsome Daddy? Isn’t he a lovely, sleepyhead Daddy?” 

Nora squealed and reached for Will who smiled broadly and stepped closer to scoop her into his arms, leaning in for a kiss that lingered. Jake tried to prevent a flashback to the folded paper by studying the table intently. Nico was saying, post-kiss, “You slept like the dead.”

“hmm,” Will responded, looking around, taking in the two teenagers and their wounded faces, “Hello Laura, Jake…”

Laura smiled sweetly, “Jake and I are your new nannies, Uncle Will.”

Will nodded, but confusion still reigned in his eyes.

He stared at Nico, searching for some clue. Nico raised his eyebrows. Even he didn’t have a look that could communicate all of this. But he did see Will’s eyes travel over the scraped knuckles of his right hand.

“I sense I’m missing something big….” he mused, resulting in a three-way silent exchange between Laura, Jake and Nico. 

“I’ll tell you all about it in the car, my love. We leave in T-60 minutes.”

Will nodded again, his look guaranteeing he would hold Nico to that. 

“Da da,” Nora babbled happily. Will kissed her cheek and pulled up a chair. 

“Hi Daddy!” Lee chirped, as if he suddenly just realized he was there. 

“Hi, Lee!” Will responded brightly.

“Daddy, Papa said I can have diamond earrings.”

“Finish your lunch first, little one.”

“Okay, Daddy. Then we go to the beach?”

“Yes, then we go to the beach.”


	3. Getting There and Settling In

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Will and Nico talk in their car, and Laura and Jake talk in hers. Everyone's tired by sunset, but only the babies are sleeping.

In the car, Nora dropped off first, and Lee wasn’t far behind, at which point Will turned to Nico and demanded, “Okay, spill!”

Nico grinned as he merged onto the highway. “Nice hard-boiled detective routine, Solace. Very scary.”

“Quit stalling, di Angelo. Tell me why we suddenly have two nannies and why they both looked like they’ve been mugged. …were they mugged? …and, I’ve seen your knuckles in that state who knows how many times since we were 12 years old, so I know you hit someone, hard.”

Nico nodded, “Ok. I did. Trevor, you know Laura’s boyfriend? We met him at Sally and Paul’s once or twice?”

Will was looking blank, shaking his head.

“Yeah, you do, Will. Big guy, football player, good looking, dumb….”

“Oh yeah. I don’t remember him as dumb, though. He’s a science major, no? He’s thinking Engineering next year.”

“Ok, not dumb, but, I don’t know, I never liked him.”

“Anyway…” Will interrupted.

“Anyway, he had a lot too much to drink at the party last night and a bit of fooling around turned into a bit of forced fellatio. Jake intervened, and got a fist in the face, twice. Laura fell and hit her cheek on a table, and then they ran away and-“

Will held up his hand, “ whoa. Back up. Nico, a bit of forced fellatio? Styx!”

“I know! Like, holding her head and shoving his dick down-”

“Yeah, Nico, I get it, I just… gods! Poor Laura! Is she alright?

Nico glanced at him askance, “ would you be?”

“Right, dumb question.”

“I mean, she’s ok and she’s not, you know?”

“..so they ran away, and?” Will prompted.

“and they took a cab to our house and told me everything. I’m glad they did, because, you know, Sally and Paul are away for three weeks, and Percy’s in California with Annabeth due any day now. I was so mad, Will. I had to do something.”

“Something demigodly or something cop-ish?” Will asked shrewdly.

Nico flexed his scraped hand in Will’s direction, “Something old school,” he admitted.

“You beat up a high school kid…”

“A pretty much fucking rapist, Will! Besides, he’s eighteen, so…”

Will stared at the road, picturing Nico storming in and nailing the jerk right in the face. He’d fallen in love with ruthless-warrior Nico when they were just kids, and Nico unflinchingly taking out the bad guy still got him. A small smile played at his lips. “ Good thing your sword doesn’t work on mortals. You would’ve castrated him. …Percy would have….” He looked over to see Nico raise an eyebrow, biting his bottom lip. 

“Nico, what?”

“I wanted to scare the shit out of him, Will! I wanted to make sure he would never do anything like each that ever again!” Nico’s expression was fierce.

“What did you do, Nico?”

“I enlisted the help of an ekdikos.” His eyes flicked over to see Will’s reaction. Will paled. He wondered if, hoped that, Nico was joking.

“Nico, an Avenger?” Will said, aghast. 

Nico nodded, and then, quickly realizing Will might be thinking the worst, rushed to explain, “she just drew a little blood, Will, scraped him with her teeth, resumed her true form. He was more terrified than hurt.”

Will rubbed his face. That was diabolical, and brilliant. But, something wasn’t quite right..

“He could see her true form? Like, through the mist?” Will asked.

“Not really. He saw a beautiful girl turn into something grotesque, but I don’t think he truly saw the natural form of an ekdikos. He was drunk, too. I’d say he saw something out of those zombie shows, something his brain could kind of almost process.”

Will considered that while gazing out the window, debating whether now was the time to bring up the questionable ethics of using a demon sex slave to teach someone a lesson about sexual assault.

Nico was continuing to speak, looking straight ahead, brow furrowed, emotion threading through his quiet words:

“…and it just makes me so sad, you know? When I think back to us at Laura’s age, younger even, all the memories I have of us figuring out all the physical stuff are …just …so …nice, you know? More than nice! Intense, but loving, always – even when we had no idea what we were doing… And it’s not like we never did anything edgy, or …absolutely, ridiculously filthy….” Will smiled, watching the memories flash across Nico’s face. “But, nothing ever made me feel dirty , you know?” he turned to see Will watching him, listening. “So it makes me really, really sad to think that when Laura looks back at everything she’s going to have this …ugly meanness as part of it all… it just… makes me feel so badly for her.”

All was quiet in the car. Will was looking out the passenger side window. He could see his own reflection in the window, the odd look on his face. The paradox of Nico di Angelo – the toughest and the most compassionate, as long as he’d known him. Memories surfaced: Nico, sword raised, taunting the Titan, “your death would be good for me…”; Nico’s face looming over him late at night in Cabin 13, cheeks scarlet with arousal, shaking fingers reaching to stroke his cheek, his lips, a whisper, “You tell me when I can move…”, and the trembling stillness of the moment before he was ready, before he nodded, and felt Nico push deeper, watching Nico smile at his gasp of pleasure…

He turned back to watch Nico driving for a moment, long enough for Nico to feel the scrutiny and glance over at him. Nico smiled at the look on Will’s face.

“What?”

“I love you.”

Nico had turned back to the road but his eyes were crinkled at the corners. 

“I love you,” Will repeated, “ and I’m totally getting a hard on.”

Nico gave a little laugh.

“I’m serious!” Will insisted. 

Nico laughingly reached over, letting his palm discover the truth. And the truth did not make him so eager to return both hands to the wheel. 

“Gods, you are!” he exclaimed. He moaned, feeling Will swell at his touch.

“Do that forever,” Will murmured as he closed his eyes and let his head fall back against the seat. But Nico withdrew his hand sharply, startling Will’s eyes open again, as he slapped both hands against the steering wheel, “GODS, WILL! I WANT TO FUCK YOU SO BADLY! SERIOUSLY, I AM GOING TO FUCK YOU SO HARD TONIGHT! IT HAS BEEN TOO FUCKING LONG! GODS, YOU ARE SO FUCKING GORGEOUS…” Will couldn’t help laughing at the frustrated, crudely affectionate tirade. Nico laughed, too, but added, “I’m serious, though.”

“Good,” Will said simply. He let his hand rest lightly on Nico’s thigh, and turned again to the window. 

After a moment, Nico went on with the explanation, “so, I figured Laura might want to get out of the city for awhile, and she does nothing without Jake, so we have two nannies for July.”

Will nodded his understanding. 

Quiet again.

Nico mused, “Gods, it felt great to hit that guy!” Will smiled at the window. The sun poured in as Nico turned off the highway so Will closed his eyes.

 

Twenty minutes behind Will and Nico, Laura and Jake, in the Blofis’ car, merged onto the highway, both lurching forward in their seats. 

“Jesus, Laura! Stop jumping off the clutch! Christ!” 

“He who isn’t driving should shut the fuck up,” Laura returned mildly. She glanced at him. “and you can’t smoke in my parents’ car, gimme that.” He handed over the cigarette, and grinned as Laura took a drag before tossing it out of the driver’s side window. “God, it’s hot,” she murmured as she rolled up the window. Jake cranked the air conditioning. She glanced over at him again, appraisingly, “it’s weird seeing you without make-up.”

Jake peered at himself in the overhead mirror. “I know,” he agreed, frowning at himself, lightly fingering the bruises. “I couldn’t do it. Everything’s too raw. Good thing we’re heading to the middle of nowhere.”

Laura rolled her eyes. “It’s not like you need it, Jake. Those cheekbones alone…”

Jake looked unconvinced. “Says the girl with the Elizabeth Taylor eyelashes…” 

He flipped closed the mirror and reached into the backseat for his backpack. He pulled out the notebooks, the anticipation like a stomach full of butterflies.

Laura watched him from the corner of her eye. “What’s that?”

“I found these at your ‘uncles’’ house. …do I have to say uncle?” Jake interrupted himself, looking up at Laura. 

She laughed. “They’re not really my uncles, just friends of Percy’s. I think I started calling them that as a joke, they’re closer to our age than Percy is, but for me it stuck. You can call them Will and Nico, I’m sure.”

Jake continued, “You know Nico has every Hazel Zhang comic ever?”

Laura nodded nonchalantly.

“Well, I found this these books of her drawings stashed behind the row of Biancas. Original stuff! Ink drawings! Looks like early stuff, never published! And why, Laura, why did you never tell me?” He looked at his friend accusingly.

Laura pulled off what she thought was a convincing look of bewilderment, which Jake saw through at once, exclaiming, “Hazel Zhang is Nico’s sister?! You never said!”

Laura scrambled for an appropriate response. Even she didn’t know all the details, but what she did know about her brother and his friends she wasn’t free to divulge. A little bit of truth always helped the lie, so, rather than denying anything, she waffled, “Yeah, I don’t know. I guess I didn’t think it mattered. It’s not like I know her. I met her a couple times when I was little. She lives near Vancouver or somewhere.”

Jake seemed content with that. He was gingerly opening the first notebook as if it was archived medieval parchment, and gazing at the first page in awe. “This is amazing stuff!” He traced his finger over the lines of the ship stretching across two pages, looking closely at the attention to detail on the dragon figurehead. The next page was divided into 10 blocks , each with a picture and a name, like a cast of characters. Jake exclaimed, “Hey, your brother’s in this one!” He took in the handsome face, the eyes tinted green, the wild black hair. Jake moved his eyes over the others, “Annabeth, too!”, pointing to the girl with the long blonde ponytail. “… and she put herself in!” Jake went on excitedly. The drawing of Hazel had gold streaked through her dark curls. “…and Nico.” Jake’s face got solemn as he stared at the sunken cheeks and the deep dark shadows for eyes. “She made Nico’s character really spooky, no colour at all,” he remarked. Jake froze suddenly, remembering Nico’s eyes the night before, and he shut the notebook quickly, taking a deep breath.

“What’s wrong?” Laura asked with a concerned look. 

Jake swallowed hard. “Just feeling a bit car sick,” he lied. He leaned back against the seat and closed his eyes.

Laura turned her concentration back to the road. But her mind was reeling. She wanted to know what was in those notebooks, too; featuring Percy and Annabeth when they were her age. Maybe Hazel made it all up, like Jake thought, an early attempt at a comic book adventure. Or, maybe, she’d finally learn some details about the truths her brother and parents always thought she was too young to hear.

 

When they pulled into the sandy driveway and parked beside the cottage, the late afternoon sun was relentless, and they could hear Lee’s cries from the moment they opened the door. 

“Thanks the gods!” Nico exclaimed, thrusting the three year old into Laura’s arms the moment she walked through the door. 

“Gods?” Jake wondered to himself, “plural? Weird.”

Will was feeding Nora a bottle, leaning against the kitchen counter that was filled with bags of groceries. The floor was littered with suitcases. It was about a hundred degrees in there.

“Please, can you take our darling son out to the water so we can get sorted in here?” Nico looked frazzled, but, Jake noted, it suited him – wavy hair standing on end, sweaty t-shirt clinging – very hot, actually. He pictured himself mixing an icy cocktail, Nico gratefully holding the frosted glass to his forehead... 

Laura kissed Lee’s teary cheek. “Yes, let’s go play on the beach, shall we?” He nodded, tears forgotten, babbling about a shovel and seashells.

Jake was carrying their bags. “I’ll just drop this stuff in your room, and I’ll meet you out there,” he told Laura. She nodded, taking Lee’s swimsuit and bag of sand toys from Nico, before whisking Lee out the door.

Exiting Laura’s room after quickly depositing their bags, Will handed over Nora. Jake held her while Will tied a sun hat under her chin before deftly snatching Jake’s cigarettes out of his breast pocket saying, “Absolutely not!” “Got it,” Jake said smartly, but he watched Will toss them into the cupboard above the fridge so he could find them later. On his way out the door, Jake saw Will grab a cold beer from the fridge, twist the cap and take a swig before handing it to Nico who held it to his forehead. “Yes!” Jake hissed, as he turned with Nora towards the path through the dunes. It was enough to see it.

Nico came up behind Will on the path to the water about an hour later, wondering why he’d stopped. Will was grinning at the scene on the beach below: Nora sat like a pink-hatted dumpling in a little pit dug out of the sand, just close enough to the water so that each wave would allow a trickle of water in. She squealed and splashed with Laura reclining next to her, legs extending to maximize contact with the cooling water. Jake had stripped down to just the linen shorts, pale skin gleaming, playing keep-away with Lee and the toddler size soccer ball. Will turned to look at Nico over his shoulder. “This was a great idea,” he said. Nico kissed said shoulder, murmuring, “They do seem well occupied. Maybe we should go back and…”

“No way,” Will was tempted, but now he’d seen the sparkling water and the decent waves, he couldn’t turn away. “I’m too hot!” Nico nodded in enthusiastic agreement. Will smirked, “I’m going swimming.” 

At the water’s edge, after setting down the basket of snacks and drinks, Will whipped off his t-shirt and ran into the waves, eventually diving in and swimming with strong strokes when the water dropped off deep. Nico joined the soccer game, at some point picking Lee up and running with him in his arms so Jake and he could kick the ball around a bit more seriously. “You’re good,” Nico praised Jake’s ball-handling skills. He sounded surprised, but Jake was used to it. Everyone had low expectations of athleticism for the pretty boy, but his mom was Scottish and his dad Northern Irish, so soccer was like breathing to him. And when you’re the pretty boy and a bunch of burly cousins visit from Belfast or Glasgow it was best to have some moves.

Jake was busy blushing at Nico’s smile and praise when Will came up from behind, stealing the ball and kicking it in to the air sending it zooming towards Nico’s face. Nico didn’t even flinch, snatching the ball easily with his free hand and handing it to Lee before swinging him to the ground. “Nice try,” Jake heard Nico mutter to Will as he jogged past him into the water. Will stared unabashedly. From where he stood behind Will, Jake did, too.

 

Supper was a late and sleepy affair. By the time the sun had set completely, Lee and Nora were tucked into bed and sleeping soundly, and a bed was made for Jake on the screened in porch. Laura was yawning and heading to her room with a stack of old magazines. Jake watched from the screen door as Will carried the remainder of the bottle of wine in two glasses with him to the biggest bedroom. Before the door closed, Jake could just see Nico lifting his shirt over his head and tossing it to the floor. Jake sighed, and stood twisting his right earring for a long moment, before creeping back in to the kitchen to grab his cigarettes before tip toeing back to the porch. 

From her bed where she lay sprawled as scantily clad as possible against the heat, Laura tried to concentrate on the fashions of three years ago. The whispers and murmurs from the adjacent bedroom she could ignore, the first groan was distracting, and the following “shhhhhh” and the faint laugh were too much. 

The porch was empty when Laura stepped through the screen door, but she could see Jake sitting out in the dunes in the moonlight. He looked up as she approached, licking the freshly wrapped joint as he drew it from his mouth. Laura sat close to him, the breeze a welcome caress after the heat of the day. 

“I think they’re having sex,” she said, leaning her head into Jake’s shoulder. Jake nodded, as if he didn’t care, as if he hadn’t just been interrupted imagining the whole scene. Laura sat more upright and twisted to cup her hand around to block the breeze while Jake lit the joint. He inhaled deeply and passed it to her. 

“They’ve been together a long time, right?” Laura coughed a bit, nodding, passing the joint back.

“Take a look at this,” Jake rested the smoke between his lips, reaching for the notebook he’d brought out with him and smoothing it before them. Laura took the joint from his mouth while she looked at the face page, a close up of, unmistakably, young Will and Nico, arms thrown around each others’ shoulders, Will grinning with his eyes closed and Nico turned, kissing his cheek. The date scrawled at the bottom of the page was seventeen years ago, the year Jake and Laura were born. “They were fifteen,” Laura noted. She flipped through a couple pages, stopping suddenly as the green-tinted eyes of her brother caught her eye. The layout was brilliant: at the centre of the page, under a separating arc, a bearded man questioned of bunch of teenagers (including, as Laura had noticed, her brother, Percy) sitting around a ping-pong table, “Where are Mr. di Angelo and Mr. Solace?” in a speech bubble. Each of the teens around the table was clearly avoiding answering, looking away, but their suspicions had been intuited and interpreted by Nico’s artistic sister. Above the arc enclosing the meeting, a peaceful nighttime scene was revealed – a cabin under a full moon, with a single open window from which a little heart escaped accompanied by words in Hazel’s scrawl, “ahhhhhh” and “mmmmmmm”. A scene of funny, cozy, gentle love, and of funny, cozy, gentle lovemaking. Laura looked up to find Jake watching her closely. 

“You ok?” he asked. She shook her head. Jake closed the notebook. 

“Want to talk about it?” Laura shook her head again, unable to speak around the choking feeling in her throat. She closed her eyes, leaning into Jake’s shoulder again. He took the joint from her fingers and inhaled again. They both let the sound of the waves drown out their thoughts.


	4. Tension and Release

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The day of the sudden thunder storm, all kinds of tensions build and release. So much love.

Jake thought he might be the first one up as he dressed, tucking a diaphanous vintage silk short-sleeved shirt into his linen shorts, and entered the kitchen looking as fresh and elegant as the sporty teenaged girl detectives depicted in novels from the 1920s. Will shook his head imperceptibly from where he sat in the kitchen as Jake walked in. He had trouble getting his head around Jake’s aesthetic – a bit early Nancy Drew, a bit Japanese androgynous, a bit Oscar Wilde. Whatever it was, with that bone structure, those slim shoulders, those auburn locks spilling onto his forehead, he could pull it off. He’d grow into those pouty lips, too, and make some boy very happy, indeed. Will checked himself – or girl, he thought. No need to be presumptuous. 

Jake was looking around before asking with deliberate nonchalance, hands in pockets, “Nico’s still sleeping?”

Will hid his smile as he offered the next spoonful of baby cereal to Nora perched in her high chair. “Boy,” his thoughts confirmed. Out loud he said, “He’s gone for a run. He’s been gone awhile, but sometimes he does that, runs forever, as long as he can. Since he’s been home with the kids, he says it’s his time alone.” Will seemed lost in those thoughts for a second before he looked over and said, “Grab a coffee, Jake, and sit down.”

He did, giving Nora a broad smile and babbling in her face for a moment, “Good girl, Nora, eating your breakfast like a big girl!” She smiled, forgetting to swallow, dribbling down her chin. “Almost,” Will chimed in, scraping with the spoon.

Jake took a sip, “So, Nico’s a stay at home Dad?”

Will nodded, “I took time off with Lee. He’s taking time with Nora. Funny, because Nora’s mine, for sure, and we’re pretty sure Lee is Nico’s.”

Jake was confused enough to be unsure whether he should also be embarrassed, knowing that. 

Will explained, “A lovely good friend of ours is the mother of both children, but we wanted to leave what we could to chance. So, we provided a mixed sample both times.” Jake’s brain stalled out trying and not trying to conceptualize “mixed sample” and Will took the expression on his face for continued confusion, launching directly into assisted reproductive biology 1A1. At some point Will took a breath, and Jake held up his hand saying, “I’m good. I got it.” Will shrugged, cooing at the baby, “So Nora has Daddy’s eyes, doesn’t she, and Lee has Papa’s.” Nora twittered and chirped happily.

“Hey, she got her tooth!” Jake observed. 

“Yes, thanks the gods!” Will said.

There it was again! “Gods?” Jake asked.

“What?” Will gave him a blank look. Jake’s courage failed him, and, anyway, Lee came prancing into the kitchen at that point completely nude, distracting them both. 

“Lee, where are your clothes?” Will inquired.

“I want to be naked, like you and Papa,” Lee explained blithely as he climbed into a chair. Will’s eyes shot sideways to Jake and then back to his son. Lee went on, “when I was sick in the night…. You and Papa didn’t have any clothes on.”

Will tried not to smile. Jake tried not to blush. Will said, “You weren’t sick, you were frightened, little one. Different thing.” From his kitchen throne, the little Emperor in New Clothes gave Will such a withering glance, Will almost laughed – the times he’d seen that look on Nico’s face! “I was sick, Daddy, and I needed you. And Papa didn’t have any clothes on and he said, “Daddy will put you back to bed, piccolo.” And you carried me back and you didn’t have any clothes on. And I was hot and I took my clothes off.” Lee crossed his arms and raised his eyebrows in continued pure-Nico, as if daring Will to just try and refute such a clever argument. Will managed to keep it together, barely.

“But I have clothes on now. And Papa has clothes on for his run. And Nora has clothes on. And Jake has very nice clothes on.” Lee turned his skeptical eye on everyone seated around the table in turn, refusing to be convinced. Will continued more firmly, “Everyone wears clothes to the table, Lee. Go get at least underpants on before you come back to eat.” Lee’s glare at his Daddy was also Nico, not for the first time did Will notice a flash of the true darkness (Jake’s eyes widened with recognition – Nico’s eyes!), but Will always was a match for Nico, and he was more than a match for Nico’s offspring. Lee didn’t soften his expression but he did slide off the chair and stomp back to the bedroom, managing to slam the door with, what Jake considered, surprising strength for a three year old.

Will turned to Jake. “Nico’s,” he said, unnecessarily. Jake nodded, scattered thoughts swirling. He decided to focus on something tangible – food! - grabbing an orange and peeling it with great concentration.

Moments later Lee reappeared all sweetness and light in dinosaur underpants and chattering about Cheerios, temper forgotten. Jake caught Will’s eyes and Will mouthed, “Nico’s….” at him once more. To Lee he said, “Come here, sweetheart. Thank you for getting dressed.” He lifted his son to his lap and poured him a bowl of cereal. Nora squawked jealously and Will lifted her to join her brother. Lee smiled around his Cheerios at Jake. “Hi Jake,” he said. He studied the older boy while he chewed, concluding, “ You’re pretty, except for your eye and nose.”

“You got a point there, Lee,” he said good-naturedly, sharing an indulgent smile with Will over Lee’s head. Will mouthed, “Nico’s!”, pointedly.

On cue, Nico came through the kitchen door, practically naked actually, wearing only running shorts, gleaming with sweat. Jake felt his mouth go dry despite the orange. He didn’t try very hard not to stare at Nico’s toned body, especially when he turned to grab a bottle of water from the fridge.

“Papa! Daddy, Papa’s home. Ciao, Papa, buongiorno!” Lee’s enthusiastic greeting ended with a string of Italian sounding babble.

Jake looked at Will for translation of the last bit, but Will shrugged and turned to Nico whose eyebrows were raised over the bottle of water he was downing. 

“He lost me after ‘good morning’...” Will admitted. 

Lowering the bottle, Nico shrugged, too, “Don’t look at me,” he said with amusement, “pretty sure those weren’t really words.” 

He reached to pluck Lee from Will’s lap, “But ‘Buongiorno, Papa!’ is good enough, piccolo. What a nice way to greet your Papa! Buongiorno, my Lee!” 

He lifted the small boy and kissed each of his cheeks, and Lee held Nico’s face in his little hands as he did the same in return. 

Nico scooped Nora into his other arm, bending to kiss her fat red cheeks saying, “...and buongiorno, my Nora, la fragolina.” 

Jake felt his heart thumping as he watched this scene of loving unfold, noting he’d seen Will’s exact smile in the notebook the night before, though now his eyes were open and focused on the object of his affection. How many times had Will smiled that particular smile in the past 17 years? 

A child in each arm, Nico turned toward Will who lifted his face for his good morning kisses. But instead of leaning down, Nico gracefully straddled Will, sliding down onto his lap as he said, in a slightly huskier voice, “ and, buongiorno, my William Solace…” He slowly kissed each cheek, and then Will’s mouth. Jake felt his own lips part as he watched theirs move together, as if he wasn’t sitting a mere two feet away. The children seemed to take their parents’ passion in stride. Nora found her thumb, nestling into the crook of Nico’s right arm; Lee wriggled down to the floor, inadvertently brushing his lips along Nico’s forearm as Nico distractedly let him go. 

Nico suddenly pulled away from the kiss, and looked down at Lee in surprise, “Lee, did you just lick me?” He had, and got in another wet lick of Nico’s arm before Jake playfully pulled him away and onto his lap. 

“Papa tastes salty-good,” Lee informed Jake. Nico stood and dismounted from Will who was saying to Lee, but looking at Nico, “Daddy’s the only one who gets to lick Papa.” 

Nico’s eyes smiled as he looked back at Will, “Yes, Daddy can lick Papa anytime…” 

Nico seemed to suddenly come to realize that Jake was present at the breakfast table. Jake knew he was blushing about 50 shades of red already, anticipating what was coming as Nico said, “and, buongiorno, Jake…” before Jake felt soft lips on one cheek and then the other; his nostrils filling with clean salty scent. 

Instantaneously, any blood that hadn’t been flowing to his face, was filling his cock, and Jake shifted Lee to the edge of his knee cognizant of the impropriety of getting a huge erection while holding a three year old, but unsure of the correct exit protocol. Will might have recognized something in his face as he took Nora from Nico so Nico could head to the shower, because he called over, “Lee, come help me with your sister,” and Lee happily hopped down to head with his Daddy into the kids’ bedroom. Jake didn’t even give himself time to feel grateful before he bolted from the room. 

Desperately trying to keep the salty smell in his nose, Jake scrambled to lift the mattress of the cot on the screened-in porch, rifling through the ‘year of love’ notebook, after which, clutching what he was looking for, he jogged out into the dunes. Sliding down into a dip between two sandy hills sparse with sea grass, Jake’s hands shook as he spread the folded paper open before him, and then released his swollen cock from the confines of his shorts. Gazing at the drawing, Jake shoved four fingers into his mouth, slurping wetly for the dual purposes of maximum lubrication and visceral connection to the image. Hand to cock, Jake let himself feel the soft kisses once again, the salty smell in his nose, his own voice murmuring, “salty-good, salty-good”. His heart drummed loudly, his head felt stuffed with cotton wool, his hand slicked swiftly up and down; staring, staring at the drawing. He found his mouth forming the words, “lick Papa,” first under his breath, then a whisper, and then out loud recalling the feeling of his tongue on his fingers but imagining the wet and warmth enveloping the entire length of his cock “Lick Papa!” he groaned with abandon, the last vestige of rational thought in his brain preventing him, at the very last second, from aiming the splurt of ejaculation onto the inked face of young Nico. He lurched the drawing aside as he came, liquid arcing into the sand. In Jake’s mind, Nico kissed his cheeks again while his breathing slowed, dragged his tongue to a diamond-studded earlobe and murmured, “very pretty…” 

It was when he felt the folded paper about to slip from his fingers in the warm morning breeze, Jake realized he’d zoned out to the point of dozing off, but likely only for a few seconds at most – wetness still visible on the sand between his legs. Acknowledging the ridiculousness of the situation through the euphoria, Jake zipped up and pulled his sheepish grin into a neutral expression he could carry back into the kitchen. 

Despite the mask of neutrality, Jake re-entered the cottage with the paranoid suspicion that his thoughts were obvious at a glance, like he was wearing a t-shirt emblazoned with the confession: “Yes, I was just now jerking off while imagining simultaneously sucking off and being sucked off by your husband.” In reality, no one even registered he was there. Laura had taken Jake’s seat at the table while he was …busy, her eyes red and swollen from fresh tears, face troubled. From the doorway, Jake watched Will place a cup of coffee before her and gently, wordlessly, smooth her bangs back from her forehead. His thumb seemed to linger between her furrowed eyebrows for a split second longer than necessary. Instantly, Laura’s face became peaceful, her breathing calm and steady.

At that point, the bedroom door opened and Nico joined them, dressed and smelling of soap. Jake looked everywhere else in the room, but still couldn’t help seeing Nico out of the corner of his eye giving Laura an English “Good morning, sweetheart,” and dropping a kiss on top of her head. He accepted a coffee from (smiling) Will and pulled a chair up to the table. 

Feeling suddenly claustrophobic, Jake had to get out of there. He called over to where the kids were occupied by a pile of toys on the floor of the living room area, “Ready for the beach, Lee? Let’s take Nora down to the water.” He was surprised how normal and cheerful his voice sounded. 

Laura jumped up to go, too, and after a minute of flurried gathering of towels, toys, hats and sunscreen, they were out the door.

Will slid into a chair, stretching his long legs out before him, still smiling. Nico poured himself a bowl of cereal, and then, feeling eyes upon him, glanced up meeting Will’s blue, blue gaze. Nico allowed himself to chew and swallow in the quiet kitchen, getting Will’s message loud and clear. He put down his spoon. “You want to give Papa a lick?” 

Wills expression didn’t change, as he nodded slowly. “You can finish your cereal first,” he said mildly before giving in to a Cheshire cat grin.

Nico bolted a few more mouthfuls then pushed the bowl away. Before he had swallowed the last spoonful, he was following Will to the bedroom, being pushed onto the bed, disrobed roughly of shorts, and feeling Will’s tongue deliver. Oh! 

There was time enough to finish six drip-castles, dig a big hole, and try to skip about 30 stones before Will and Nico ambled down from the cottage to join them, both with shiny eyes and languid expressions. But they enthusiastically joined in the play, Will eventually strapping Lee into a life jacket and paddling him out on his surfboard while Nico and Jake played Frisbee in the shallows. Jake had discarded the silk, hanging his shirt neatly from a beach chair, the freckles on his bare shoulders popping in the sun. His cheeks sunburned which helped hide the constant blushing as he watched Nico in his bathing suit. Laura donned a big floppy straw hat looking like a matched pair with hatted-Nora, both in blue swimsuits. Nico excused himself at one point and then soon returned with a large tray of sandwiches and lemonade. Just past noon, the wee ones started to droop and their dads carried them off to bed saying, “family siesta time.”

Alone, Jake and Laura stretched out on towels under the big umbrella. The temperature continued to climb as they finished the lemonade and shared one of Jake’s forbidden cigarettes. Laura began to talk, then, and Jake listened: about her confusion, and revulsion; about how she couldn’t figure out why Trevor had done something like that; about the throw-up feeling that came upon her as she remembered, about feeling nasty, and used, and weak, and soiled. Jake watched two tears roll down from under her Jackie O sunglasses before she continued. “And I watch Uncle Will and Uncle Nico and they’re so loving. And I look at them in that (she indicated the notebook Jake had brought down to explore again) and they were so loving, right from the start!” Laura’s voice broke, “and I want that! I want to feel that! This!” She grabbed the notebook and flipped to a page, pointing at a drawing of the boys drawn sleeping together, a sheet falling off the bed and just covering their naked hips, post-coital satiation obvious in the drape of their bodies, their mussed hair, the pink Hazel had used on their cheeks and chests. 

Laura started crying in earnest and Jake pulled the notebook away. He let her cry. Then, with a shuddery breath, she was done. She pressed her cheek to the towel. “Jake,” she murmured. 

“hmm?” 

“I want to lay here in the sun and sleep now.”

“Okay, Laura.”

“And I don’t want tan lines so can you undo my top?”

Jake undid the fabric knot of the bandeau, letting the ties rest on the towel. “I’m going to swim, then, okay?”

Laura was already asleep.

 

Jake swam for an hour, mulling things over. The sun beat down, but the water became still. Tension started to build in the air though Jake couldn’t see any gathering clouds to indicate an oncoming storm. Laura’s predicament was breaking his heart. He couldn’t stand her feeling awful about herself over this thing that had happened. He wanted her to feel that loveliness and warmth she saw in the notebooks. 

Jake dried off as he gazed down at his friend. The light now had a strange prestorm quality about it, and he loved the way it made the silk of his shirt gleam like moonlight – Laura had slipped it over her shoulders before turning on to her back at some point. Laura’s thick bobbed hair fanned out, soft and wavy. Jake slipped down to recline on an elbow beside his friend. She looked so beautiful. Laura lifted a hand to pull off her sunglasses, her green eyes sparkling at him, though red-rimmed, still. 

“What?” she said, at his expression. 

“You’re really beautiful,” Jake admitted, smiling down at her. 

Laura laughed a little, “I know, because I look like a boy…” She was always a bit self-deprecating about her petite slimness, her small breasts. Jake shook his head, but she rolled her eyes. 

“I know you, Jake. You’re a sensualist. You love the fabric, and patterns, and light, and the feel of things; you…”

“shhhhhh,” he interrupted, touching a finger to her lips, “OK. So as a sensualist, I’m telling you you’re beautiful. It’s the light, but it’s also you. I love this,” he traced the curve of her bangs above her eyebrows. “This line is perfect.”

He let his fingers lightly shift the silk fabric of his shirt. “I love the drape of this, the way it lies on your breast. I love that this happens,” the movement of the fabric making a nipple tighten and protrude. 

“May I touch you?” he whispered, and Laura nodded, entranced by Jake’s gentle words and tone, deciding to trust him. Jake continued, “I love this,” he brushed his thumb over the pert nipple. “I love the shiver that gives you.” He moved his hand to sweep slowly down between her breasts, “Your skin is so soft, like butter, like …ripe mango.” Laura smiled gently, allowing herself to feel pleased, pleasured. Jake smiled, too. “I love that this is the same colour as the sea right now,” his finger traced the line of her bikini bottoms, and she caught her breath, so he stopped, but she whispered, “Don’t stop.” The air was heavy around them, the heat oppressive, the atmosphere charged. Jake licked his lips. He ever so gently let his finger follow the curve of her public bone, back and forth, back and forth, back and forth, watching her face, her parted lips. “I love this beautiful curve, and your beautiful face when I touch you. I love you feeling this good.” 

Laura suddenly clutched his hand and held his fingers into the softness just below her public bone as she rocked her hips against him. “Jake?” she whispered, questioning. And it was his turn to nod. But where one second the air had been still as death, the next the wind whipped, making the chairs shudder and the sand toys scatter. Jake and Laura were snapped out of their magical reverie as the sky darkened and thunder clapped. The sea seemed to heave in protest. Jake and Laura scrambled to grab what they could before rain lashed down, but by the time they got to the cottage with their arms full of beach gear, they were completely drenched.

Depositing the chairs and towels and shovels and pails and juice glasses and sun hats, Laura leaned against the wall of the screened in porch. Laura wrung water from her hair, Jake’s shirt plastered to her skin. She turned to her friend, “Am I beautiful now?” she smiled. 

“Don’t tease,” Jake felt a bit vulnerable, “ I meant all of that. I mean, I love making you feel like that. That’s how you deserve to feel. And whatever about girls or boys, or whatever, I’m happy to touch you like that. I wasn’t faking or pretending… oh, I don’t know how to explain it…” He looked at her searchingly. Laura nestled against him in the dim and din of the storm, “I know Jake. Thank you.” He kissed her wet hair.  
The porch door suddenly burst open and Will and Nico both appeared there, stopping short when they saw the soaked , embracing teens. 

“Oh good, you’re ok?” 

Laura spoke, “Yeah, we’re ok.”


	5. Hot, and HOT!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The storm drive everyone indoors, and that drives everyone crazy. But that makes for a good night for all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter took ages to get right. I should offer a little smut warning.
> 
> Enjoy!

The heat was almost unbearable within the cottage as the storm raged outside and the rain lashed the closed up windows. The afternoon passed in languorous stupor – everyone had combed the overflowing bookcase for those ancient paperbacks from the 1940s and ‘50s that seem to sprout like mushrooms in dark corners of every cottage the world-over – private investigators, and tramps, and murders, and heists, and cowboys - and settled to read. Nico took the whole sofa unapologetically. Will sat leaning against it with his legs outstretched. Every once in a while Nico would let his hand fall to the back of Will’s neck with affectionate familiarity, until Will shrugged him off making a mild noise of irritation, saying, “It’s too hot!” Nico’s eyes didn’t leave his book as he murmured, “You’re too hot.” Will kept reading, too, but he was smiling now. 

From time to time, Laura would look up from ‘The Gold Digger’s Curse’ to gaze at Jake with a grateful tenderness. More often than not, Laura’s gaze would catch Jake mid-page-turn stealing a glance at Nico and Nico’s fingers touching Will.

The thunder was becoming more intermittent when Nora’s wail announced she was awake, but the wind still drove the rain sideways against the cottage. Will turned down the corner of page 36 of ‘The Secret Hideout’, saying, “I’ll get her,” but before he stood he turned on his knees to face Nico (completely absorbed in ‘The Heist’) and slid his hand under Nico’s t-shirt to pinch a nipple playfully. This got a smile and an absently pleased little moan in response, but wasn’t enough to tear Nico’s eyes from the book. Will tugged the shirt back down, shaking his head. Nico always read like that, sinking into the book and getting stuck in there. Will flashed back to that first summer under that old oak tree – hot afternoons and stacks of books. Sometimes it had taken three or four kisses along his smooth jawline, a whispered promise of more, and a hand slipping towards Nico’s belt, to pull Nico out of the story. 

Nora, after a bottle, seemed happily oblivious to the increasingly oppressive cottage air. She cooed and squealed and babbled and leapt about like a burgeoning trapeze artist in the jumpy chair Will hung in the living room doorway. Lee emerged as well, in good spirits, especially being allowed a whole jumbo freezie to himself. 

“Yes, please!” Laura called out, and Will passed around the cold treats and everyone slurped gratefully, lips colouring cartoonishly. Will resumed his spot and his reading, and didn’t object as Nico’s hand found the back of his neck again.

Lee immediately plopped himself between Laura and Jake, demanding they join him in a game he called ‘Cats’ which he went on to imperiously orchestrate, accepting no less than absolute and unquestioning obedience to his rules of play. Jake and Laura were kitten siblings and Lee was the mama cat, and the whole play involved a scenario where they were all going out to get ‘Jake-kitty’s’ ears pierced and he could get some diamond earrings. Laura was assigned the name ‘Scratch’ and her role was to tickle Jake-kitty to make him smile because he was (for unexplained reasons) sad. Scratch’s ability to communicate, beyond tickling, was limited to the sound “mew” (not, “meow”, as Laura quickly learned). Jake-kitty could only speak Italian, but he wasn’t allowed to pretend to speak Italian, it was all very formulaic: he had to say, “Mama cat, how do I say (blank) in Italiano?” and then Lee would tell him and he would repeat it. The game also involved Mama cat crawling around and over her kittens. With all the tickling and the crawling and the Italiano, and mama cat checking his earrings every 5 seconds, and the heat of the late afternoon, Jake-kitty got a bit fractious, finally rolling away from the feline scrum, standing, and snapping, “Mama cat, how do you say, ‘This game is seriously fucking annoying!’ in Italiano? 

From the couch Nico cracked up, and Will interceded, chuckling, “Lee, honey, I don’t think Jake wants to play anymore.”

Lee was trying to translate and having trouble, “Papa, what’s ‘fucking’ in Italiano?”

Nico couldn’t speak at first, then managed, “In any language, Lee, it’s awesome…”

Will clapped his hands sharply, “OK! Game over!”, glaring at Nico who was wiping away tears.

Nico’s hysteria died down, “it’s not even THAT funny,” he admitted, shaking his head, “Styx, it’s too hot in here. Come here, Lee. Come read with Papa.”

Lee scampered over (and directly over Will) to climb up and squiggle beside Nico who started to read out loud in a calm voice that contrasted sharply with the words, 

“…back pressed against the wall the gun clattered to the floor. Ferguson looked on coldly, watching the red stain spread and the man slide down beside the gun, watched the eyes until he could see the eyes could no longer see…”

Will twisted his head around, “Really, Nico? You think that’s appropriate?”

“Oh, Daddy,” Lee’s voice was precociously condescending, as if Will was mentally deficient and needed kind pity and gentle explanations, “It’s just that that man was dying. The life in his body was done. That’s ok.” He waited, satisfied, for his Papa to continue. Will and Nico shared a glance laden with things Jake couldn’t decipher. Was Will’s look apprehensive? Was Nico’s resigned? Will reached out to stroke Lee’s soft curls as Nico calmly resumed chapter 7.

Jake shot a quizzical look at Laura certain she would be equally weirded out by those words coming from a toddler. But Laura’s eyes were closed as she stretched out on the floor fanning herself with an old National Geographic magazine.

Sighing, Jake ran his fingers through his uncharacteristically unruly hair as he glared out at the imprisoning rain and then swept his look of irritation around the room, catching a glimpse of himself in the mirror above the fireplace and stopping short, staring, “I look like shit!” he burst out. Everyone looked up in surprise. Laura opened her eyes, and a little half-smile played around her lips. Only Jake would think that looking the perfect scruffy combination of young Marlon Brando and young Jude Law (oh, slip a cigarette between those bruised lips!) equaled looking like shit.

For his part, Will tried to shove away the sinful thought that Jake looked amazing all sun-soaked and salty from the beach before the storm, hastily dressed in jean cut-offs and an old ‘Talk Talk’ t-shirt. Tall and wild-haired, this afternoon Jake reminded Will a bit of Nico at that age. He considered it best to keep his mouth shut.

Nico, however, turned back to his book saying, “We don’t care how you look, Jake.”

Nico didn’t see Jake’s face fall, but he looked up as Laura gasped, “Uncle Nico!” and Will turned to stare at him incredulously. Jake turned and ran from the room. 

“What?” Nico had no idea he’d said anything wrong.

“You’re so dense,” Will was shaking his head. Laura was starting to get up to follow her friend, but Will spoke to her next, “Let him be.” Laura stopped at the doorway, and kneeled down beside Nora, “Your Papa’s so mean,” she crooned, “Yes, he is.” Nora grinned and bounced.

“Why is Papa mean?” Lee chirped. He and Nico had identical looks of bewilderment. 

“Yes, why is Papa mean?” Nico echoed, sitting up and swinging Lee to the floor.

 

Will clarified, “Papa is not mean. Papa is oblivious.” Nico held Will’s gaze and begged with his eyes for more. He was still in the dark. Will covered Lee’s ears with both his hands and said quietly but pointedly, “Jake likes you, you idiot!”

Nico blinked in surprise, then looked from Laura to Will to Laura again. In the background they heard the sound of the shower starting. “What? ….Uh… okay…. But, …..I still don’t…. I only meant, he could wear whatever he wants here. It doesn’t matter…”

Laura sighed, “What matters to Jake is what he looks like, and what you think about what he looks like….”

Nico felt completely blindsided, “Well, how was I supposed to know?!” He threw his hands into the air. 

Lee shook off Will and ran to find some toys. Will took the opportunity to take Nico’s face into his hands and kiss his puzzled mouth. Will grinned. “You always did have trouble with that particular life skill, my love.”

Nico looked desperate. “What do I do now? I didn’t mean to hurt his feelings. But, I’m not exactly…” There was a note of panic in his voice. 

“It’s a crush, Uncle Nico, remember those?” Laura said, all youthful condescension. “He’d be mortified to think you knew. For Christ’s sake, don’t say anything! Just be nice to him.”

Nico raised both eyebrows. There was a certain twisted irony to Percy Jackson’s little sister lecturing him about crushes.

Nico sighed, and then noticed, “Hey, it’s stopped raining! Lee, Nora, let’s get out of this crazy house!”

Will lunged to open the windows, and the breeze that rushed in was refreshing, soothing. The storm had washed away the heat wave. The relief was instantly invigorating, everyone had the urge to run, run, run. They all scrambled to escape. 

In the shower, Jake stood feeling emotionally precarious, a bit choked up. So, Nico didn’t care what he looked like. Why should he? He was married to fucking Matthew McConaughey! Jake knew he was being ridiculous. It’s not like he thought he really had a chance with his best friend’s ‘uncle’. But, he had it bad! Nico made him so fucking hard! Speaking of which, he stroked himself roughly in the stream of hot water, the relief as he came cracking his resolve enough to allow a couple tears to break through. And then he broke down completely. Leaning against the shower wall, cradling his softening penis, Jake found himself bawling his eyes out. It was extreme, gratuitous, and short-lived. And when it was over, he felt better. Fuck Nico di Angelo! A voice at the back of his head responded, “Yes, please!”, which Jake ignored. 

Nico was the first to return to the cottage after the family (plus Laura) soccer game on the beach. Nora strapped to his chest in a baby carrier, he came upon Jake sitting, smoking, on the deck. Jake had pulled himself together to his own satisfaction and looked enchantingly 1951 – white t-shirt tucked into wide pleated trousers, hair combed straight back slick. He looked good. Nico made some effort.

“Very Stanley Kowalski,” Nico acknowledged, noting Jake trying not to smile as he stubbed out his cigarette. 

“He was a jerk,” Jake noted, looking at Nico from under his eyebrows. 

“Yeah, but he was ho-” Nico stopped himself just in time. 

“I have to change Nora,” he added, turning on his heel, marching away from the perils of flirty banter. Jake shrugged, but he was smiling fully now as Nico continued into the cottage.

As the sun started to set, and everyone trooped in starving for their supper, Will declared a kitchen dance party, blaring a heavily 8o’s/90’s pop-y playlist. Will always could read the mood of the party. 

Jake rescued the grilled cheese sandwiches while, after a moderate argument about who was going to be Kevin Bacon and who was going to be Chris Penn, Nico and Will pulled off a pretty skilled rendition of the final dance scene of Footloose.

Lee on the table in his PJs was feeling it, grooving with Laura to “Personal Jesus”, and then everyone lost their minds to “It’s the End of the World as We Know It”, jumping around and everyone, except Will, stumbling over the lyrics. 

They kept the music loud as they crowded around the kitchen table, voracious, joking around and bumping elbows. Laura started shuffling a deck of cards at some point, and they decided euchre over poker, playing around the plates and condiments and beer bottles. Will turned the music down. Nora fell asleep on Nico’s shoulder with her little arm reaching around his neck. Lee sat on Jake’s knee “helping” by loudly reminding Jake what he had in his hand, until he suddenly just leaned back against Jake’s chest with a glazed look in his eyes. Jake reached around to play the trump everyone already knew he had, saying, gently, “Hey, mama cat, how do you say “bedtime” in Italiano?” Nico caught his eye, approvingly, grinning. Lee murmured, “Nanna” before turning and nestling closer. Will stood to take Lee, but Jake said, “I’ll tuck him in.” Nico followed with Nora into the dark bedroom. Silently, Jake and Nico placed the little ones down and covered them lightly. Jake watched Nico touch each child’s head in turn, whispering what sounded like a blessing in a language that sounded neither English nor Italiano. 

Crickets chirruped through the open window, and moonlight spilled in, and Jake imagined, exquisitely, that he and Nico were putting their own children to bed, that Nico was going to turn and slip his arm around Jake’s waist and pull him close and Jake would lean on him and they would tiptoe quietly from the room. 

They did tiptoe quietly from the room, but Nico went first, and Jake followed, heart thumping. Nico made a beeline for Will who was standing at the sink washing dishes, slipped his arm around his waist and leaned against him. Will pulled him close with a sudsy hand and kissed his temple. From the cleared table, Laura watched Jake’s rueful expression, and she stuck her tongue out at him to cheer him up. Jake shot her a raised middle finger, but he smiled, too. 

After a second kiss that lingered, Nico announced, “I’m going to take a shower,” and Will looked pleased as he resumed the dishes.

Jake was about to join Laura at the table when Will said, deliberately casual, “What do you guys think? Bedtime? Yeah, it’s late.” The teens looked at each other. They got the message. Go somewhere else and shut the door. 

“Yeah, we’re really tired, too,” Laura said. Jake nodded, “Yeah-” He found he couldn’t continue. Will nodded. It was awkward as the teens bolted into Laura’s room. Will didn’t care. Nico wouldn’t be long in the shower.

Laura flopped down on her bed, grabbing a magazine. Jake leaned his back against the door. 

“We just got dismissed so they can fuck, right?”

Laura threw him a glance that confirmed the redundancy of such a statement. 

Jake didn’t let it go, turning to stare through the door wishing for x-ray vision. “Why did we have to leave? They’re not going to fuck right there on the kitchen table?” 

“Ew,” Laura said shortly, turning a page.

“and it’s not like your room confers any more privacy… I mean, their bedroom is right there!” Jake looked longingly at the wall before throwing himself onto the bed beside Laura. 

“Oh my god, Jake!” His old-fashioned pants tented ridiculously. Jake looked down at himself miserably, “I know! I’ve got it bad! Your ‘uncle’ makes me crazy!”

Laura smirked, “Not ‘uncles’?”

Jake closed his eyes. “Will is gorgeous, absolutely! Those blue eyes, god! But, Nico! Fuck me! I mean, please fuck me, Nico!”  
His eyes snapped open as they heard the bathroom door open, footsteps, the murmur of voices, another door close. He groaned, letting his head flop back onto the bed.

Laura studied her friend with amusement, but empathy, too. With the lovely thoughts of the pre-storm beach, Laura reached her hand to gently rub against his hardness. Jake gasped, “Laura! You don’t have to….”

“You want me to stop?” She paused mid-stroke.

“uhh…” Jake wasn’t sure. He didn’t want Laura to feel like she had to do anything, especially after everything she’d been through lately.

Reading his mind, Laura whispered, “I’m okay, Jake. Let me help you feel good. I want to.”

Jake responded by lifting his hips slightly, pushing into her hand. “We stop anytime you say…” he said breathlessly. Laura loved that he said that, and the breathlessness, too.

She said, “What do you think they’re doing right now?” Jake’s cock twitched against her palm. 

“God, I don’t even know!” he moaned. “Something slick and tight? With…” He had some wobbly vision involving generous erections and spreading ass cheeks, but didn’t quite have all the details worked out. With trembling fingers he helped Laura unbutton, and unzip, and released himself a little shyly. But Laura took him in hand confidently. A faint groan from the next room, and the creak of the mattress had Jake closing his eyes tightly again. His face felt like it was burning up, and that was nothing compared to the heat of his cock, so close to the edge.  
When another groan leaked through the wall, Jake came suddenly, explosively. After, Laura couldn’t help kissing the corner of his mouth as he gasped for air. Blood had rushed between her legs as she watched Jake’s climax and she was left wet and pulsing. 

They gazed at each other. Jake took deep breaths. 

Laura whispered, “Let’s not analyze the hell out of this right now…” She grinned.

Jake couldn’t speak yet. He pointed at his cheek and Laura kissed him again. “Right,” he rasped, “But I pretty much fucking love you right now…”

“Me, or my right hand?” Laura teased. She lifted goopy said hand and wiggled her fingers at him.

“Oh god, Do I have to choose right now?”

Laura wiped her hand on his shirt in mock indignation. 

Jake tucked himself back in and they both registered continued muffled but unmistakable sounds from the next room. “Let’s get out of here,” Jake suggested, now that he felt he could move again. Laura agreed and led the way, only stopping on the way outside to steal a couple beers from the fridge.

 

In the master bedroom, slick and tight basically summed up where Will and Nico were at as they heard the door and the fridge and the bottles and the other door. “Good, they’re gone,” Will breathed by Nico’s shoulder, “You can scream my name.”  
Nico, impaled and rocking his hips slowly with his back pressed to Will’s chest, was focused on the approaching ecstasy Will’s considerable girth could achieve against his swollen prostate, but still got the joke. There had been no screaming, really, since the kids. Not that there hadn’t been scream worthy moments, just that they’d learned to swallow the screams. Like now. Nico felt the initial spasms, squeezing into the wave of pleasure to make it last, opening his mouth wide but preventing sound. But as Will pushed him forward onto the bed, mounted his hips and drove into him deeply to finish them both off, Nico couldn’t help it. This was too good. The world should know. “arrrrrggghhhh hhhnnnngggghhhh…..”

Out in the dunes was apparently not far enough to escape the sounds wafting through the open windows. Jake blew out some smoke as he swore, “Christ!”

“Good for them,” Laura said, as she took the cigarette from Jake’s fingers.

Jake was the first one up the next morning, rolling over to kiss Laura’s shoulder where she lay beside him in one of his t-shirts on the pullout bed on the screened in porch. The morning sun was still pink-tinged and Jake felt exuberant, throwing the embroidered kimono he got in Japan last year over his bare shoulders. The silk felt like cool water down his tanned back. 

In the kitchen he started the coffee the way he’d seen Nico do it: grinding the beans, tamping them into the moka pot, placing it on the burner, warming the milk in a small saucepan, stirring in a spoon of honey. A knock at the door made him turn. He paused. Who would be knocking? Or even visiting at 7:00 on Sunday morning. 

If the suited man at the door wasn’t expecting a tall dishy ginger boy in boxer shorts and a green silk robe, glittering diamonds and a black eye to answer his knock, he hid his surprise well. “I’m looking for Detective di Angelo,” he said, flashing a badge. Jake heard the coffee splutter on the stove signaling it was done. He glanced towards the closed bedroom door. “I guess, you’d better come in,” Jake said, wondering if that was the right thing. Jake motioned towards a kitchen chair, but the man stood just inside the door.

“He’s sleeping still, I think. I’ll get him”

Jake knocked quietly, but heard no sound from within the room. Trepidatiously, he opened the door, and called “Nico”. He could see shadowy shapes on the bed in the dim. He didn’t see any bedsheets. He tried not to look too closely. “Nico,” he called again. He looked back toward the cop, who was watching him, unabashedly. 

“What?” he heard Nico mumble.

“The cops are here,” Jake whispered loudly.

“What?” Jake could see Nico lifting his head to look at him. Jake nodded from the doorway, pointing into the kitchen. “Gods! OK, I’m coming. …shut the door, Jake.” Jake didn’t try very hard not to glimpse Nico’s sculpted nakedness as he stood from the bed just before the door closed.

Jake went back to preparing the coffee, and Nico emerged in slim jeans, pulling a t-shirt over his head, nodding his head at the suit and saying, “I’m di Angelo.” Jake felt proud of Nico’s ability to take command of the situation, even with bedhead curls and before brushing his teeth. A very small measure of the power Jake had witnessed before the Trevor revenge infiltrated the kitchen and the suit stood a little straighter. Jake handed Nico a cup of coffee, before offering one to their unexpected guest, who declined, anyway. 

The suit introduced himself as the chief of police, Montauk. “It’s about a body,” he said. “We called into the city and found out a hot shot detective was right in our midst, might help us out. And here you are.”

Nico took a sip of the coffee, raised an eyebrow in pleasure and nodded his thanks to Jake before responding. “And here I am,” he said. “I guess you’d better sit down and tell me all about it.”


	6. The Truth Dawns

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Detective di Angelo takes the case and Jake figures out the truth. Nico and Will fight a little, and kiss on the beach. Dead bodies, Hazel Zhang, freak outs and cute kids - just another day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I lazily didn't bother to research anything about Montauk, or where Camp Half Blood might be located in relation to it. Nor about the Montauk police force. So if you know Montauk, and it doesn't ring true (I mean, as true as one should expect - this is pure fantasy!), I apologize. 
> 
> As always, thanks for reading. Enjoy!

The chief of police, Montauk, had a name – George. Cal George. He didn’t want to be out on the point at stupid o’clock on Sunday morning, the Sunday of his youngest grand-baby’s christening. Mrs. George had vehemently promised that she would personally be responsible for Montauk’s next murder if he didn’t show up in time for those drops of holy water. Hence the suit. He was hoping he could pass the whole mess off to this big city detective and be back in town seated in the family pew at St. Jerome ’s by 9. 

He’d been woken up two hours earlier by the uniforms who’d answered the call about the body in the woods, and knew immediately his team was ill-equipped to deal with the situation. They had taped off the scene, but when Cal had arrived he found them pouring over the manual trying to figure out what to do next. Everything was complicated by the holiday weekend – there was a pathologist on call, but she was hours away; the photographer was out of town, too. Cal had put a call to the city for assistance, but they couldn’t spare anyone. Bad weekend for murders, apparently. But the helpful guy on the desk named Bob had pointed him in this direction. Cal was desperate. Until this spring he could count on one hand the number of suspected and actual homicides he’d seen in Montauk since he joined the force 22 years ago – three shootings, that sad case where a mother had smothered her child, and that boy who’d beat his girlfriend to death. Now this was different than anything he’d ever seen, and he was the first to admit he needed help. And if this guy could, and Bob seemed to think he would, despite vacationing with his family, at least get him started and point him in the right direction, he’d be grateful.

Bob had described a seasoned pro, and at first glance the handsome young man with the tattooed torso and arms did not seem to fit the bill, but the eyes told a different story. Cal had seen eyes like that before – war vets, elite special forces, snipers. Eyes that had seen the very, very worst side of humanity, but, terrifyingly, could face such horrors, not unfazed, but unquailingly. Cal’s shrewd gaze took in the scarred arms. This guy was maybe older than he looked, experience-wise. The power he exuded came from something other than big city attitude. Cal had been in this game far too long to be cowed by power plays from cops who figured him for a Bill Gillespie type – small town and stupid. He could put those idiots right without too many drops of sweat. But he wasn’t too proud to admit there were smarter, better, tougher cops than he was - some were even younger and better looking. This one before him, Cal wanted on his side. 

As they sat down at the table, Cal George decided to accept a milky coffee from the pretty boy in the fancy house coat, who had been introduced as Jake and had a surprisingly firm handshake, and started to talk. Detective di Angelo (“You can call me Nico”) leaned back in his chair listening.

The story was brief. The body was still in the woods. The uniforms were standing guard. They needed professional eyes on the scene ASAP. If he could just have a look. 

“I have some pictures.” Cal brought out a tablet and laid it on the table, tapping the screen. Nico pulled it towards him and leaned over it, swiping through all the photos solemnly, efficiently, and then back tracked through them more slowly, finally pausing on one and looking at it for a long silent moment.

“Where is this?” Nico asked, his expression closed, unreadable.

“Towards the south shore. It’s all farms, and then it’s brush and forest, right before the valley.”

Nico was nodding. 

“You know this area?” Nico was still nodding. Cal wasn’t expecting that. “Local?” He frowned. He knew pretty much everyone who lived around here. 

Nico didn’t have a chance to respond as a bedroom door opened and Cal saw a naked boy-child not more than four years old emerge rubbing his eyes. Detective di Angelo turned to the boy, stopping him with some firm words, maybe Italian? The boy didn’t seem happy about it, but paused and turned back to his room. Nico seemed about to say something when, BAM! – they all jumped. The small child had slammed the bedroom door with such force a framed watercolour of a sailboat was knocked off the wall. From inside the room, a baby screamed in startled fury.

“Lee!” Nico reprimanded sharply, and the boy, Lee, opened the door, looking mutinous as he screamed, “I don’t care! I’m not getting dressed!” He burst into tears and then launched the door closed again with a bang. The baby continued to wail. Nico turned to Cal with a quick, “Sorry. Just a minute.” 

The pretty boy pushed himself up from the table, “Where did that come from?” He followed Nico into children’s bedroom. Cal sat patiently, finding the domestic mayhem heartwarming and familiar. He raised five children, and had thirteen grandchildren. He was alone in the kitchen, smiling to himself, when a tall, well-built man, with choppy blond hair to his chin, in well-worn grey sweatpants appeared on the scene, pillow-creased and sleepy-eyed and muttering, “Who are you? And what the hell is happening?” 

Cal stood and offered a hand to shake, introducing himself, “The little one doesn’t want to get dressed, I’m gathering, and he woke up the baby.”

Will nodded. That part made sense, but, “So the police are here?”

Cal didn’t have time to answer. Jake joined them and handed into the arms of the sleepy blonde man a little yellow-haired roly-poly beauty with tear soaked, teething-red cheeks, before returning to the table. She cuddled to his chest immediately, finding her thumb. Will said to Cal, “And here’s the baby. This is Nora. I’m Will Solace.”

The man, Will, just stood there looking bemused, and Cal cleared his throat. 

“There’s been a suspicious death, Mr. Solace. We’re hoping Detective di Angelo, that is, your, er….”

“Husband,” Will clarified. 

“Right,” Cal felt a little disoriented but managed not to blush. He didn’t want to seem gauche and small-minded. To be honest, he was mostly relieved to know that, whatever role Jake played here (Dick Grayson? Mary Poppins?) the young boy with the blackened eye wasn’t the spousal unit. “Well, we’re hoping he could take a look and help us out a little.” He watched Will purse his lips, clearly nonplussed but saying nothing, as he moved toward the coffee pot and then took a baby bottle from the fridge. 

Cal turned back towards the table, feeling genuinely sorry to have barged in and contributed to chaos on the holiday weekend. This man was obviously not impressed. The look was pretty much the one he’d gotten from his own wife as he left this morning. He glanced at his watch. An hour and a half until holy water. He could still make it. 

“Excuse me, son. That’s not for civilian eyes.” He’d noticed Jake pouring intently over the crime scene pictures on the tablet left on the table. Jake looked a little pale around his bruises and no wonder. A dead girl his own age, half naked and with those terrible burns. 

 

The porch door opened and a petite young women with dark bobbed hair entered the kitchen in a t-shirt that said ‘Talk Talk’ and ended mid-thigh and drooped down off one shoulder. Seeing her, Jake leapt from the table, kimono swishing as he strode toward her. She looked puzzled, saying, “Jake, what is it?” as he took her by shoulders and steered her back through the door onto the porch. 

 

In the bedroom calm adult Italian had been alternating with frantic sobby toddler Italian, and then there were some muffled sobs with more calm adult Italian, and then there was quiet and then Detective di Angelo reentered the kitchen followed by a red eyed boy in a bathing suit. As soon as Lee saw Will he raced over and buried his face in the folds of his pants. Will caressed his little head, saying, “thank you for getting dressed, little one”. He was looking at his husband, however, eyes narrowed. He called out, “Laura?” Nico looked grim, gulping down his coffee. The dark haired girl popped through the porch door again looking flustered. “Yes, Uncle Will?”

(Ahh, niece, thought Cal. He was starting to put it all together)

Uncle Will was saying, “Honey, can you take Nora and start Lee’s breakfast? Nico, my dear, can I borrow you?” He turned to Cal, who couldn’t help but glance at his watch again. “Excuse us for a moment, Mr. George.” The girl, Laura, took the children, and Will pointed Nico towards the bedroom. They closed the door.

“Nico, what the fuck?”

“They found a body, Will.”

“And you’re involved because, why?”

“They called headquarters, Will, and found out I was here. They don’t know what they’re doing. They have a force of like, 3 guys.”

“Nico, if I got a call from the hospital at 7 am on the first Sunday of our family vacation, and was like, ‘sorry I have to go to work’, you would lose your shit!”

“Yeah, I would. And then you would go, Will. It’s not like you would say no.”

Will kept his eyes narrowed but closed his mouth. He knew it was true. Nico took the opportunity to press his lips to Will’s.

“Don’t kiss me when I’m mad.”

Nico did again, anyway. But Will wasn’t ready to give in. He wrenched his face away, snapping, “I said, don’t.”

Nico raised both hands and backed away, “Okay!”

They eyed each other steadily.

“This is different, Will. It’s not just me dying to get back on the job after being home with the baby, though, to be honest, there’s some of that.”

 

Will interrupted, “Nico, we’ve had more sleep and better sex in the last two days than we’ve had since Nora was born. I know what you’re like when you’re on a case. You disappear. You’re just gone, even when you’re home, until it’s over. And I love that you’re awesome at what you do, but we planned this vacation for months so that we could spend time together and this is going to ruin it.”

Nico ran his hands over his face in frustration, “Will, I don’t disagree with you. Please believe me when I say that under different circumstances I would tell this guy to fuck off. But, just look at the pictures, Will. I have to check this out. I have to.” His eyes pleaded with his husband.

Will closed his eyes and sighed. He lifted his palms in resignation, before jostling past Nico and out of the room. Nico followed as Will went straight to the table and basically snatched the tablet from Cal, with a perfunctory, “Can I see that?” Cal, taken off guard, started to sputter an objection, but Nico spoke up. “It’s alright. He’s a doctor.”

“Oh, is that right?”

“Yeah, pediatric trauma. I asked him to take a look.”

They both watched Will scrolling through the crime scene photos, his face morphing from angry and skeptical to wide-eyed, enlarging one photo and examining it closely. He didn’t explain what he saw, but eyebrows raised he looked up at his husband. “Yeah, you gotta go.”

“Right?” Nico said. He turned to Cal. “Okay, let’s go.” At the door while Nico was putting on his shoes, Lee slipped from his kitchen chair and ran into his Papa’s arms, sniffling, “Papa, mi spiace.” 

Nico put his arm around his son and kissed his hair. “It’s okay to be angry, Lee. It’s just not okay to slam doors and yell at your Papa. I have to go now. Be good for your Daddy.” Lee ran back to Will and climbed into his lap. They watched Nico follow Cal out the door. 

The porch door suddenly swung open with Jake bursting through looking thoroughly distraught, brandishing a notebook.

“Oh my god! It’s all true, isn’t it?” 

He slammed the notebook onto the table between the bowls of cereal and started pacing like a lunatic, gesticulating wildly. 

“Laura, we poured over these all night. You were right beside me and we went on and on about Hazel’s awesome imagination. How does she come up with this stuff? And I thought, when you started getting upset, that you just didn’t like seeing your brother cast in those scary situations. When all along, you knew it was true! You were upset because it was all true! This isn’t an adventure graphic novel! This is a documentary! Fuck! And that means…and that means…. THAT IT’S ALL TRUE! FUCK!”

Laura looked pale and upset, “I didn’t know all that stuff, Jake. I didn’t know Percy did all that…”

Jake stopped pacing and slammed his hands on the table, leaning into Laura’s face, “But you knew he was the son of fucking Poseidon!” On Laura’s lap, Nora giggled, enjoying the drama. However, tears had started down Laura’s cheeks, and Lee was watching fearfully.

Will called out, “Jake, calm down. I can explain….”

Jake wheeled on Will, sliding the notebook toward him. Will could now see what it was. He recognized Hazel’s book of drawings she’d made after the Gaea quest. She’d made one for each of the questers, saying it was her way of processing, healing. “Where did you get this?”

Jake didn’t answer, but he did rant on, “I saw the dead girl in the picture. I saw what she was wearing.” He flipped to a drawing showing Annabeth on the deck of a flying ship, black ink except for the t-shirt tinted orange, the words “Camp Half Blood” across the chest. “and here, and here…” Jake pulled a second, thinner notebook from under the first one, pointing out orange tinted t-shirts on several of the characters, including fifteen year old Will, himself. Will gasped, recognizing the second book as one Hazel had gifted to them on their wedding day – drawings of their blossoming romance in the calm, convalescent year after the quest. 

Jake was continuing, “the girl was wearing this shirt. I know it. Camp Half Blood. It’s a real place! Which means….” Jake furiously flipped pages of the first notebook again, stabbing his finger at drawing of Nico curled up sealed in a bronze jar with the words ‘death trance’ penned underneath and ‘seven seeds, seven days’, “this really happened!” 

Jake found another page, “and this really happened!” It was Nico again, this time stabbing a small knife into the chest of a werewolf while the beast’s claws dragged down his arms. “And this!” he pointed now to a terrifying depiction of Nico screaming, surrounded by skeleton soldiers, while a teenaged boy pleaded, futilely for his life as he was dragged into the underworld. 

“Jake, stop,” Laura begged.

Jake turned to Lee, “Who are your grandparents? They’re gods, aren’t they?” 

Lee looked troubled, “Daddy, I-”

Will got mad. “Leave Lee out of this, Jake, that’s enough. Calm down.” Jake lost it completely, crying and hyperventilating.

Will turned to Laura, “Please pull yourself together, Laura, and take the kids to the beach, please? Can you do that? I’ll deal with Jake.”

Laura nodded, wiping her cheeks. She put on a bright tone, “Come on, Lee. Let’s get out of this crazy house.”

Lee trotted over to her, “that’s what my Papa says.”

“I know, sweetheart. Let’s go dig a hole for Nora.” They left quickly, Lee chattering away.

Jake was leaning on the table trying to catch his breath. Will leaned torward him, and Jake pulled away thinking Will was going to kiss him, but Will just put his mouth close to Jake’s ear. The tone Will hummed immediately dropped his heartrate, slowed his breathing, stopped the crazy swirling thoughts. Jake felt instantly weak with relief, feeling his knees buckle. Will helped him into a chair.

“How the fuck did you do that?” Jake’s voice was tremulous. 

“Son of Apollo. I’m a healer. Plus, a decent archer and a fair musician…”

Jake stared, eyes wide again, “Apollo….” he mouthed. He swallowed hard, “and Nico?”

“Son of Hades.”

“God of the underworld. Holy shit. Fuck. I can’t take this!” Jake started to freak out again. 

“Oh no,” Will thought. “Sleep time.” He placed a finger to Jake’s forehead generating a profound calm that had Jake drifting into restorative sleep. Before he was fully out, Will helped him stumble to the living room sofa. He’d feel better when he woke up. 

Back in the kitchen, Will poured himself another coffee and sat down, slowly looking through the notebooks he hadn’t seen in years. He was struck anew how Hazel had brilliantly captured the horrors of that quest and war. Will could see, if Jake truly had any affection for Nico, how he would be so moved by what had happened to him. Will smiled though, at the drawings of young Will and Nico in love. Hazel had equally brilliantly captured the innocence and intensity of that year. He blushed to think of Jake pouring over pictures of private kisses, suggestions of love making, aroused cheeks tinted red, passionate embraces – sexual tension evident even in the simple drawing of them sitting elbow to elbow in the dining pavilion. Will gathered the books and went to put them in his own bedroom. He happened to look at the clock. Just 8:00? Gods! Another moment in the quiet kitchen to finish his breakfast seemed fair. Jake would be out for awhile. Will expected a long chat with Laura was in order. But before that, toast, another coffee, wasn’t too much to ask.

Nico returned just after lunchtime to a deserted cottage. He meandered down to the beach after hastily making a sandwich and gulping lemonade straight out of the pitcher.

Will had set up two large beach umbrellas and in the large swath of resulting shade atop a multicolored patchwork quilt lay three bodies. Lee, on his side, still clutching a small plastic shovel, Nora, prone, thumb planted firmly in mouth, and Will on his back, paperback resting on his chest – all sun-golden and peaceful; dead asleep. Nico hated to disturb them and so indulged himself a minute of staring and loving, before plunging into the sea. Nico dove through the waves until his mind and body could shed most of the gruesome morning, and then he trudged onto shore, dried himself quickly and stretched beside his family in the warm afternoon shade. Sleep came almost immediately.

Unsure of how long he’d been out cold, Will first turned a panicked eye to the children. All well there, he noted with relief. And Nico was back, he was pleased to see. Will wanted to know about the body and the case, but he wanted more to just look at his man, peacefully sleeping. They could talk later. Rolling onto his side, Will let his eyes rove over Nico’s body, as familiar to him as his own. This nipple, this firm and smooth expanse of chest and midriff, this strong hand, this leanly muscled thigh. 

This. 

He let his fingers trace over Nico’s bathing suit, reading the relaxed penis like braille through the thin fabric – here the length and breadth of the shaft, here the lovely ridge, here the weighty head that would slip from its silky hood. Looking up, Will found Nico’s eyes open and smiling at him. “Kiss me while you do that,” he suggested softly, languid, only half roused from his nap. Their lips met and opened together, and Nico grew under Will’s gentle touch until he reached down to stay Will’s hand with his own.

“Okay,” Will murmured against Nico’s lips, getting the message “I’ll just kiss you then,” moving his hand to stroke Nico’s cheek, into Nico’s hair. He shifted to kiss along Nico’s jaw, his throat, tasting the salt from the sea there. Nico moaned and rolled onto his side, wrapping his arm around and pressing into Will’s back so he could shimmy closer. Their lips connected again. When had they last had long uninterrupted kisses, with long uninterrupted kisses being the only goal? 

The babies slept on, the sounds of their little breaths infiltrating the intimacy of their parents and, rather than being remotely distracting, were little affirmations of how far their love had taken them since their first kiss that sunny morning so long ago. After several minutes, Will gently pushed Nico back onto his back, looking down at him again. Will smoothed his hand from Nico’s chest to his shoulder and then stroked down Nico’s arm. At the pomegranate seeds tattoos Will paused. Touching each seed in turn, Will thought the words, “Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you.” Will loved those pomegranate seeds for saving Nico’s life and always treated their depictions with due reverence. 

Nico said, “Come here.” He pulled Will down close to him. Will rested his cheek against Nico’s chest, and Nico absently wriggled his fingers into Will’s hair. 

“Okay, talk,” Will said.

Nico spoke softly. “She wasn’t a demigod, and the burns are exactly what you were thinking. She had a little bag of ambrosia with a bit broken off one of the squares. The pain would’ve been incredible , no?” Will couldn’t see Nico’s face, but he heard the sympathetic pain in his tone.

“It would’ve been quick. I think it would be too quick to register the pain,” Will reassured.

Nico went on. “She was found in a clearing on the edge of the forest, like you saw in the picture, sprawled beside that big rock, like she might have been standing when she ate the ambrosia, and then crumpled down to the ground.”

“A teenager in a Camp Half Blood t-shirt, on the edge of the camp’s wood, with a bag of the medicinal food of the gods,” Will mused. “Could it be a camper who accidently OD’d for some reason? Or, suicide?”

“I thought of that,” Nico said. “But, Cal George knows the family. The Camp woods goes right to the edge of their farm. And a couple other things: one, the t-shirt was too big for her. I don’t think it was hers. There was a tote bag near the body like she’d been carrying it over her shoulder when she fell. There was a blanket inside, and jeans, underwear, a smaller t-shirt, and a couple empty condom packets. We found the condoms, used, neatly tied off and flung into the woods. I was reminded of us, actually…” Will looked up sharply to see Nico’s rueful expression. “How many condoms of ours has that forest floor seen?” Will grinned in agreement, nestling back down, “Yeah, we were gross.”

“And then I thought of the t-shirt. Remember before you left for school after the Gaea war? We’d started getting pretty physical, and then you had to leave for school, and what did I want from you? Your t-shirt. That pink He-man surfing one. I put it right on, remember? I slept in that shirt, to feel like you were near me.”

Of course Will remembered that. He planted a tiny kiss on Nico’s chest.

“and then I was picturing Laura,” Nico continued, “this morning (and I’m not even going to go there beyond this one thing) in Jake’s t-shirt, way too big for her.”

Will got it. “This girl has a Camp Half Blood boyfriend.” “Well, had,” he added, sadly.

“So I Iris messaged Chiron as soon as I got away from the scene. He had no idea who might have a relationship like that, but he got right to work on the mist manipulation. The police report and the forensics will show the unfortunate tragedy of accidental drug overdose. But, I need to investigate at Camp, Will. I need to figure out who this guy is, whether this girl’s death was intentional or not.”

Will was still. “You have to go now?” he said finally.

“Chiron made a suggestion. He thinks it would arouse less suspicion if we all go, you, me and the babies, tomorrow. Like we’re just dropping in for the July 4th celebrations because we’re in the area. To watch the fireworks. We could give Laura and Jake the day off. They can go back to the city if they want-”

Will interrupted, “Oh, I think they’re going to want to come along….”

“Why?” Nico was surprised. He dropped his hands, freeing Will’s face.

“Jake knows.”

“Knows! Like, about us? About camp?What? How? Did Laura tell him?”

“Ah, no… He figured it out with some help from Hazel Zhang. Did you say he could help himself to your collection of your sister’s work?” 

Nico remembered the conversation in the kitchen a few days ago. “He wanted to look a the Bianca series…”

“Well, he found the notebooks. You know, Hazel’s art therapy after the Gaea quest… And…. The one she drew for us…”

“Oh gods!”

“Yeah, it was a fun morning. Jake nearly lost his mind. I had to calm him down with some Solfeggio frequencies. I figured, what the hell? Why pretend, now? But then that blew his mind, too, or again, so I did a full touch-rebalance, and he’s been sleeping most of the day. Laura was pretty freaked out, too. Apparently she’d never really known about all the stuff Percy was up to. She kind of thought being able to breathe under water was the extent of it. Knowing the stuff in the notebooks really happened, all the stuff Percy went through…. Well, she called him and they talked for hours. She’s pretty upset that he never told her the details. She’s dying to know more. Jake, too. He already bawled his eyes out over your tragic youth, Nico. And he doesn’t even know the half of it.”

Nico threw his hands in the air. “Fuck it. We haven’t had demigod drama in our lives for awhile. I miss it, don’t you? Don’t you miss it?”

“No,” Will said, shortly, with a wry smile. 

“Me neither,” Nico admitted, “But here we are.”

They were both silent. 

“Okay,” Will stated resolutely, “We go to camp tomorrow. We pretend like there’s nothing we would want more than to check out our old stomping grounds and hang out with a bunch of kids half our age. You find the boyfriend. Maybe Jake and Laura will be better seeing everything with their own eyes. Then we come back here and resume our vacation, that we planned for months.”

“With the sleeping and the sex,” Nico smiled. 

“That’s the one…” Will grinned.

Nico moved in for a kiss. “Do we have to wait until we get back from camp?” he murmured suggestively. As they kissed, Nico crawled over Will’s lap pressing himself into Will’s groin. Will slid his hand under the elastic of Nico’s waistband following the smooth curve of Nico’s backside, fingers boldly feeling along the cleft. Nico pushed back against the hand with a groan.

“Hi Dads!” Lee’s bright voice jarred them back to the present. Will snatched his hand back, and Nico slid down beside him. “Tonight,” Nico mouthed at Will’s desperate face. Will nodded. 

Then they both turned to their son, exclaiming, “Our Lee!” and pulling him into a playful embrace.


	7. We Don't have to Figure it All out Tonight, but Mostly

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nico and Will help Jake and Laura figure it all out, because the next day, shit gets real.

They didn’t say it out loud, but Nico and Will were of the same mind – for the rest of the afternoon they were going to pretend the morning didn’t happen. Laura and Jake had driven off somewhere after Jake woke up, and it felt great to just be the four di Angelo-Solaces; they could almost convince themselves they were a normal family. At one point, after everyone cooled off in the shallows waves, and a tremendous sandcastle complete with moat and drawbridge had been erected (Lee as foreman, of course, directing a two man workforce – Queen Nora was propped in the middle surrounded by towers and turrets), Lee said, eyeing them, enraptured, “Oh, I just love my Daddy and my Papa and my Nora!” Nico and Will caught each others’ smiling eyes. Lee promptly returned to digging his trench, continuing matter-of-factly, “What a NICE castle for such a NICE family…” 

Will grinned, “and what a NICE boy you are to say so!” Nico was sure his own grin was just as broad and stupid, but around the little lump in his throat he couldn’t say anything, so he just crawled over and kissed Lee’s sandy cheek, and then kissed Nora’s sun-hatted head, and then kissed his beloved’s salty mouth. By then the lump had melted and he could say, “I’ll go up to the cottage, shall I, and bring us down a picnic supper?” Will grabbed Nico’s hand as he stood causing Nico to turn and look down at his handsome face. “I love you,” he said simply. Nico nodded. “I love you too,” he said. Will watched Nico until Nico disappeared down the path through the dunes.

All sticky and crusty with sand and salt and bits of supper the was nothing for it, post-picnic, but bath, and it was while Will knelt by the tub doing the shampooing (first the baby – hand off to Papa – then Lee), and Nico sat on the closed toilet seat holding the towels, that they returned to the morbid topic of the morning. They were just getting into how they would broach the subject with the teens when Lee decided to demonstrate his impression of a dolphin and the resulting tidal wave made Will leap up, effectively interrupting the conversation. 

“Lee! You’re done!” 

Will wasn’t impressed. He ignored Lee’s protests as he snatched the plug from the drain. Nico grimaced, “We’ll talk after they’re down, how about?”

“Yep,” Will agreed tersely, lifting the dripping tot.

“Come here, you beastie,” Nico said to their son.

 

As Nico carried two towel wrapped bundles of kid-folk into the bedroom for pajamas he could hear Will grumbling as he wrenched off his soaked t-shirt, “When do we get to just say ‘bath time!’ and they go do it, by themselves, quietly, and calmly?” 

Nico snorted from the children’s room, “Probably good to wait at least until Nora can sit up by herself and Lee figures out people can’t breathe underwater…” 

“It would be great, as well,” Will had appeared in the doorway, delectably shirtless, but still grumpy, “if we didn’t have to mop up the entire bathroom after every bath…” 

Nico threw the children’s damp towels at him. “Realistically, though, Will, that’s the only time we clean the bathroom.” Will’s look conceded that Nico probably had a point there.

Nico babbled cheerfully back at Nora’s little delighted coos as he ran a comb through her hair. He liked bathtime. He liked the kids all squeaky clean and combed and buttoned into little cotton PJs. He liked the proximity to bedtime. Will couldn’t help but smile and swiftly kiss Nico’s happy face as Nico handed off Nora to him with one arm, and then, good-naturedly caught Lee mid-escape with the other. Nico promised Lee a spoon of Nutella once his hair was combed. Will made a face at that (“Nutella is basically effing frosting, Nico!”) but he wasn’t in the mood to bring up the old argument, being thoroughly charmed watching tough Detective di Angelo gently detangling Lee’s crazy curls.

Nutella, baby bottle, three stories about the lovely adventures of Little Bear, six kisses, two hugs, one nightlight battery change, sheets tucked snug-as-a-bug, and, finally, they could close the bedroom door and uncork a bottle of wine. And the sun had barely sunk below the horizon, so they congratulated themselves on their efficiency, raising full glasses of decent Pinot Noir to each other before taking grateful gulps. “What a fucking day,” Will sighed. Nico decided that raising his eyebrows while downing half his glass was an apt reply. Will looked alarmed, “Nico, don’t waste the Pinot!”

Nico put down his glass and stared at his husband who had obviously gone insane. “Will, I was wrenched out of bed this morning for one of the saddest and most horrifying deaths I’ve seen in a long time about which I then had to generate a series of complete falsehoods. And although I sent nice Chief Cal George home to his nice family in time for church, a good cop now feels like an idiot for getting a vacationing New York city homicide big shot (his words) involved in a run of the mill pharmaceuticals OD. Not only have we told mortals about Camp, we’re planning to take them there, which might have epic cosmic consequences, who knows? Not only that, Percy is probably going to murder us for dragging his sister into our messed up lives. What were definitely going to do, Will, is waste the fucking Pinot!” He topped up his own glass and then Will’s too. “Drink up, my love.” 

Will was smiling now, especially as Nico continued, “The kids better be back soon because we need to talk to them about tomorrow, but I swear on the Styx, when this bottle is empty I am taking your clothes off and putting you in my mouth and sucking slow and sweet.” In response Will brought his glass to his lips. It really was a waste to gulp such a delicate wine, but the promise (an irrevocable promise, no less!) of Nico loving him warm and wet and unhurried was worth missing subtle nuances in flavour and intriguing endnotes. 

Both men put down their glasses, though, a second later when they heard a car pull up, doors close, and then Jake followed Laura into the kitchen. Jake took a deep breath. 

“We brought food – fish and chips from Skippy’s” he said, raising a bulging plastic bag. He didn’t quite meet Nico’s eyes as he put the bag on the table. “I’m sorry I freaked out earlier.” 

Laura was bringing napkins for the contents of the bag, still steaming, greasy and paper wrapped. Now, there’s wasting good wine by pouring it down one’s throat in order to hasten the moment of a lover’s embrace – justifiable, and there’s wasting good wine by sipping it with gratuitous hot fat and salt – a sin. Will moved the wine bottle and glasses to the counter and reached into the fridge for cold beers. Nico watched him and winked when he returned to the table. “We’ve got to empty that bottle,” he murmured. Will was smiling as he shushed him.

To Jake Will said, “You don’t have anything to be sorry about, really. I lost my mind when I found out all the gods and myths and everything were true, even as it made my own burgeoning powers make sense.” 

Jake looked like he might cry or throw up. Will was watching him carefully, ready for both, just in case. Jake did neither, but tore into the fish with his fingers and then boldly grabbed one of the beers. Will started to protest, but Nico waved him away. Jake took a long swallow before looking at Nico. “I spent all day freaking out. I’m okay now. So that dead girl was from that camp? She was a ….one of you?”

Nico grabbed some fries and a beer and launched into it. Though their eyes got wide and faces pale at certain details, Laura and Jake were keeping it together just fine, considering. The food helped, the undeniable realness of delicious greasy fish and potato keeping them grounded as they processed things like “death by ambrosia”, and “magical barriers”.

Laura asked an appropriate question: “So, we’ll be able to get into camp? Percy said, and you just said, mere mortals can’t.”

Will and Nico shared a sidelong glance. Chiron had made an interesting point earlier in the day when speaking with Nico, and it was time to test the theory. Will spoke, “Somtimes mortals get through the barriers. People who see through the mist.”

Nico was chewing and nodding. “Or legacies,” he added.

Jake clarified, “the mist is the magic that keeps humans from knowing about the gods and monsters.”

“The mist is more complicated than that. Humans can know about gods and monsters, but most can’t handle acknowledging them, you know? The mist protects most people from going insane, being frightened out of their wits. The mist can manipulate the perceived realities of non-mortals-”

Will cut off Nico’s lecture with, “Basically, yeah, the mist means most people can’t see the mystical happenings . They literally see something else. A demigod battling a monster might be two street thugs in a fist fight. A god wreaking havoc might be a crazy storm system. But some people can see things, or some parts of things, as they really are. And that’s why we need to ask you…”

Nico turned to Jake, leaning in with elbows on the table. “The night of Trevor, what did you see, in the street?”

Jake looked from Nico to Laura and back. He licked his lips, fingers nervously tearing the label from the beer bottle. “I saw you disappear,” he admitted. 

Laura put her hand on Jake’s forearm protectively. “We both did, Uncle Nico.”

Jake continued more strongly, “You stepped out of the circle of light from the street lamp and disappeared. I knew I wasn’t going insane. I thought I might be, but I know I saw that!”

“Wouldn’t anybody see that?” Laura could see where they were going, but she was skeptical.

Nico’s brow furrowed, “Well, people can sometimes see something, but the mist doesn’t allow their brains to register what they’re seeing, so they process it differently, and then the product of the processing becomes their reality.”

“I could feel, or accept, whatever Will did today to calm me down,” Jake offered. The prospect of somehow being a little bit part of the club was calming his nerves.

Will made a face, “Healing can be different. Most people don’t need mist to accept it. The body’s healing is already mysterious enough to the average person. I suppose if I did something really dramatic, like, closing a wound instantly, mist might alter what people see. But I rarely do that….”

Nico interjected, “Just because you can see through the mist, doesn’t mean you can see everything.” 

Jake took a moment for beer. Will, for food, mumbling around a mouthful, “Skippy’s does the best fish and chips… thanks guys!” Laura looked perplexed and irritated, addressing Nico, “So-”

A sound at the front door made them all turn, curious. The door opened slowly, seemingly of its own volition, and in the space in front of the doorway where moonlight shafted, where there was nothing suddenly appeared… something – a man. No, not so much a man as what might have once been a man - melting skin, lifeless eyes, decomposing and yet animated. 

Jake jumped up with a strangled yelp, knocking his chair to the floor, backing away. Laura stared, frozen, mouth open, skin waxen. Will started, eyes focused on the teens’ reactions. This was too much. “Nico!” he admonished sharply.

Nico remained sitting, unfazed, legs outstretched. The… thing…., eyes unmoving, turned to face him, a voice emanating through an unmoving mouth, “Master?”

Nico calmly addressed the grotesque creature, “Thank you, Jules-Albert. That will be all.” With a lazy flick of Nico’s hand the creature disappeared into the sandy ground as if slipping down a drain.

Will rounded on Nico. “Really, Nico? Jules-Albert? Really?”

The teens’ eyes flew to Nico.

“Hey, he’s the least scary of all the scary things I could conjure, Will. We didn’t get a chance to talk about it because of bathtime, but I had to test them.”

“You couldn’t just have reanimated a sparrow skeleton or something? Zombies scare the shit out of demigods, even. Gods, Nico!”

“It had to be something bigger than party trick small animal skeletal reanimation, Will. Between Jules-Albert and commanding some of the wandering spirits around here to manifest, I chose our old pal.”

“You nearly frightened them to death, Nico! Look at them!”

Nico looked. Jake and Laura were still mostly frozen in terror. Jake managed to swallow and speak, though shakily, “I’m with Will on this one, Nico…” Laura managed to nod.

Nico seemed more triumphant than apologetic. “That means you saw him. For real. His disgusting scary reality. You both did. Jules-Albert, my zombie chauffeur from when I was a teenager (gift from my dad, long story) once drove Will and I back to camp from Will mom’s house one Spring. He drove for three days straight, major highways, and backroads, pulling into gas stations and diners. No one batted an eye. To most mortals he just looks like an ugly old man, unsightly, but not horrifying. You guys can see through the mist. I think this confirms it.” He grinned at everyone as if expecting a round of applause.

Will tried to maintain his glare, but memories of that road trip, three days in the backseat with his boyfriend at age 16, still made him blush. Thank the gods for tinted windows! They would have been arrested, for sure…. You never get that stamina back, he mused to himself.

“Uncle Will?” Laura’s voice snapped him back to the present, “Can you do that calm down thing?”

Will hummed the tone for Safe and Secure, and Laura and Jake visibly relaxed. Jake picked up his chair and slumped into it. He gratefully drained the rest of his beer. “Ok,” he said. “So we can fucking see through the fucking mist.”

“But, how can we?” Laura spoke. “For me, because of Percy?”

Will explained, “From your mom, likely, Laura. She can. Pretty clearly, too. She could see the monsters during the Battle of Manhattan, the Minotaur…” Laura’s mouth dropped open again. Jake mouthed the words, “the Minotaur…”

Nico took up the explanation, “Yeah, she’d have to be pretty strong to attract the attention of Poseidon. But, Jake, I don’t know… maybe you’re a legacy? Godly parents somewhere in your ancestry? You come from pretty pure Celtic heritage. A lot of them have the sight….”

“Fey,” Jake murmured his Scottish grandmother’s word for it. His dad’s Da always went on and on about tracing their family back to Cù Chulainn, the ancient Irish mythical figure of the Ulster Cycle. 

“Could be why you’re such good friends, sensing each others’ affinity with things mystical…”

Jake and Laura studied each other, ultimately breaking into goofy grins. 

“Nah,” Laura laughed, “I just want to borrow his earrings….”

“I’m just in it for the no-strings hand jobs,” Jake teased.

Both Nico’s and Will’s eyebrows shot skyward. 

Laura pretended shock, “Jake!” She punched him in the ribs, and didn’t pull it. 

“Ow!” he rubbed the spot. 

“Dick! Fine, so am I,” she returned. She stuck out her tongue at him. Jake did the same back.

“We’re right here…” Nico reminded.

The teens descended into mad giggling.

“Okay,” Will figured it was time to move on, “in the words of a great Canadian alt-country rocker, ‘we don’t have to figure it all out tonight’.”

The giggling was under control, so long as Jake and Laura didn’t look at each other.

Nico went on. “Okay, so Chiron is pretty sure you’ll be able to get into camp. And I hadn’t thought of this before, but I think it’s important that you come with us. I think you guys will have more luck learning who has been dating a local mortal than we will. Who’s going to tell us anything? It’d be weird, right? Us old guys asking about people’s love lives? It’ll be weird enough that we’re there, even. It’s very much a non adult environment. You’ll see. It’s a big party on the 4th at camp.”

“Are you asking us to catch a murderer for you, Uncle Nico?”

“I don’t think it’s murder. It doesn’t add up. They had sex twice. She takes his t-shirt. He feeds her ambrosia? Doesn’t make sense. I’m thinking accident, but I have to get to the bottom of it. And I need your help. ….are you in?”

Jake threw up his hands. “In for a penny, in for a pound, what the fuck….”

“God, I wish you hadn’t found those notebooks, Jake! I was happy not knowing about all this! Oh, I’m in, too. No turning back now…”

“The notebooks!” Nico exclaimed, “Where are they?” Will offered to get them, but first he passed Nico his wine glass saying, “Drink up.” 

Just as Will placed the books on the table just as Laura was saying, “I don’t need to look at these again. Percy and I talked for two straight hours this morning. He told me about things I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy, and I think he left out the bad parts…. I think I just need to go to bed….” “Alone!” she added as Jake caught her eye. She pushed his forehead playfully. Will gave her a concerned appraisal. “Are you alright?”

Laura stood and was still for a moment before replying. “I’m not sure if alright is the term, but I’m ok. I’m just tired now.” Nico gave her an encouraging smile, and Will kissed her forehead. Jake kissed the air in her direction, before she turned towards her room and shut the door.

Nico took a gulp of wine ad pulled the notebooks towards him. “Oh gods! I haven’t seen these for years. They were behind the Biancas?”

Jake nodded sheepishly. “They’re so good, I couldn’t help taking them here to look at more closely. I didn’t realize they were true, or so personal….” He could feel himself turning red as he thought about the folded drawing that was still under his mattress. He wasn’t quite ready to turn that one in. 

Nico turned to the first page of the quest notebook. “Ahhhhh,” was all he said. Will pulled up a chair and brought his wine glass close. Jake stood suddenly, bringing a tumbler from the cupboard, and pouring himself a drink as well. Nico and Will shared a silent conversation that ended with indifference. The sooner the bottle was finished…. 

As suddenly as a sea storm, screams erupted from the children’s room. Nora! “Oh no!” Will set down his glass, “Probably another tooth! I’ll go.” Jake couldn’t decipher the pleading look will shot to Nico as he opened the bedroom door. Nico just raised his glass in response. 

Alone in the kitchen, Jake watched the nostalgia on Nico’s face as he turned the pages of the notebook. He stared at the last drawing for a long time. It showed young Will in hospital scrubs, completely blood splattered, leaning against the wall of a building drinking from a can of Coke, with young Nico leaning close beside him with arms crossed, a sword sheathed at his hip. Hazel managed to draw the fatigue and the tension and the quiet stillness of the early morning in that simple drawing of powerful boy campers almost ready to fall in love with each other.

Jake said quietly, “That book’s about people almost dying from front to back.”

Nico looked up, “That’s true, Jake. Pretty much the story of my life at that point.”

“I’m sorry,” Jake interrupted. “But, I need a smoke. Want to come with?”

Out on the deck, Nico continued talking and Jake pulled a small zip lock bag out of his pocket. He didn’t bother to ask anything of Officer Nico as he proceeded to roll a joint and light it. Nico explained about quests, the ambiguity and the dangers, and the expectations of the gods, and the weight of the world on one’s shoulders. He ignored the marijuana. “So I have scars, and I sometimes have nightmares. But I survived. And I’m okay. The horrors in those drawings are pretty far removed from me now. And Percy. And the others. And Hazel, for that matter.” He took the joint from Jake and took a drag, and another before handing it back. “You don’t have to be sad for my sad life before this, Jake. I’m okay.”

Jack didn’t say anything. They silently passed the joint back and forth.

Jake finally spoke. “Thanks for not asking what’s up with Laura and me.”

“I wouldn’t presume….”

And, finally, “What does one wear to summer camp?”

Nico rolled his eyes, “Oh Jake, who cares?” Then, seeing Jake’s face, Nico amended, “I mean, you look great in everything, Jake. Whatever you pick will be perfect.”

Jake, like he was suddenly inspired, spontaneously gave Nico the quickest peck on the cheek.

Nico gasped, and brought his hand to his face. “Jake! Just, no!” He felt suddenly quite stoned, and it was hard to form the words, and he wanted to smile.

Jake got up. He was smiling. “I know. It won’t happen again. Blame the day, the weed, my ‘affinity to the mystical’…” Jake teased as he headed into the screened porch to bed.  
Nico stumbled a bit as he got up to walk back into the cottage through the back patio doors. He found Will in the kitchen, lips stained red, eyes bleary. The bottle beside him was empty. 

Nico licked his dry lips. “Nora’s in bed?” he managed, but with a huge smile that didn’t quite fit the statement. 

“Yes, after Tylenol.” Will eyed him shrewdly. “Are you high?” His words slurred the tiniest bit.

“Are you drunk?” Nico returned. Will just grinned. “The bottle’s empty,” Will declared, standing and staggering ever so slightly as he maneuvered around the table. They fell into each other’s arms, kissing hungrily, all open mouthed and scraping teeth. True to his promise, Nico slowly unbuttoned Will’s shirt, smoothing his palms against firm flesh as it was revealed. Will closed his eyes as Nico’s mouth roved from jaw to nipple, and Nico’s hands moved to belt buckle, button, zipper, stroking the growing bulge, before Will panted, “Take me to bed.”

Closing the door of their bedroom was like shutting out the day. In the quiet dim, Nico pushed his husband down onto the bed and then stood before him, enjoying Will’s lusty gaze as he disrobed. He then ever so slowly peeled Will’s remaining clothes from his body. Tucking himself close beside Will’s familiar nakedness, Nico took Will into his mouth. And ever so slowly, Nico loved Will, warm and wet, Will’s fingers in his hair. Slow and sweet.


End file.
